Halo: Fragile alliance
by Ponyeffect
Summary: An alliance has been made between humanity and the Sangheili. Will it be enough to save Earth though? William Martinez and his fellow ODST's are about to find out as they are deployed, alongside the Sangheili, to defend one of Earth's greatest cities, London. Male ODST x Female Sangheili
1. Swiftsure

**Ponyeffect here, this is my first long story, so it might take me awhile to get use to it. Also I am writing this one chapter at a time so if anyone has suggestions about what to add or characters, I'd be more than happy to accept them, I have a general plan, but I still need to nail down minor details.**

**I am not as familiar with the Halo universe as I am with other games, so if I have made any outstanding mistakes please tell me so I can correct them. The story is slightly AU as I'm not sure if the Covenant landed in London or if the Sangheili were there to help. The story takes place during Halo 3, after the Sangheili join forces with the UNSC.**

***Updater: There will be a sex scene later on. I did say early it might not happen, but that was a stupid idea. I mean, who doesn't want a bit of inter-species action? ;)***

**With all that said and done, please enjoy the story. Constructive criticism is appreciated, but no outright flaming please. Review, and favourite and follow if you enjoy the story. **

**Chapter 1**

_**UNSC Swiftsure**_**, Several miles above London.**

**November 13****th**** 2552. 12:36 hours.**

"Forward batteries, raking fire!" The 50mm guns on the UNSC Swiftsure, a Marathon-class heavy cruiser, responded, spraying flak into the Seraph fighters, destroying several of them. The rest were forced to break formation in an attempt to avoid the incoming fire. "Lieutenant, I want a status report now!" the Captain of the ship ordered.

"Covenant fighters have been scattered and are now being mopped up by Longsword interceptor's sir", the Lieutenant informed him.

"What about damage?" the Captain asked.

"Some minor damage on decks 5 and 12, but nothing too serious", the Lieutenant replied. The Captain, know by the crew as Captain Andrews, sat back in his chair, sighing in relief. It had been a long day, and the good news was music to his ears.

In all honesty, the battle for Earth was not going well. The UNSC navy was heavily outnumbered and were losing three times as many ships as the Covenant. The Covenant had also managed to deploy ground forces all over the planet, and now the UNSC was bogged down in a bloody ground war, meaning civilian lives were now at risk.

"You should be happy they're not glassing your world instead", a deep voice said, startling the captain out of his thoughts. Turning, he was met by the sight of a large Elite, wearing white Ultra class armour. The only thing it was missing was its helmet.

Not long ago, Andrews probably would have tried to kill the Elite before him, but that reaction was no longer necessary. The Elites had been betrayed by the Covenant not more than a month ago, and had made an alliance with the UNSC. It was an alliance born out of necessity; both sides knew they couldn't survive against the Covenant by themselves. The thirty or so years of non-stop fighting was more than enough to prove that.

Andrews, like most humans, had been apprehensive about working with Elites at first. They had been shooting at them not long ago, and had spearheaded a lot of the Covenant invasions. But now, several weeks on, he could really see the benefits to this new alliance. The extra manpower and ships provided by the Elites had pretty much saved humanity from an early defeat.

"I am" he quickly replied. He was glad they weren't glassing the planet; if they did there would be no way humanity could survive. Something was still bothering him though, "Why aren't they glassing Earth?"

"I believe the prophets said there was something of great importance on your world, something to help them on the great journey. Once they have acquired this, then they will most likely glass your world", the Elite, known as Vito 'Zamamee said. The captain nodded. Looking back, he could see the entire bridge crew was now listening to their conversation. They had worried expressions across their face, they had all heard what had happened to Reach, "You humans should count yourselves lucky. Your world has something of great importance to them, and you owe your continued existence to it."

Andrews laughed. _'Lucky? If we were lucky we wouldn't even be in this damn war'_, he thought to himself. Actually, now that he thought about it, the Elite did have a point, humanity was lucky. Several times UNSC ships had been in the right place at the right time to stop the Covenant from killing millions or activating one of the forerunner artifacts. The Spartan Master Chief had also come into play at exactly the right moment, stopping the Covenant from using one of the halo rings. And finally, the separation of the Elites from the Covenant, which had come at a critical moment in the war, now provided a much needed ally. Perhaps humanity was lucky then. _'Not lucky enough though'_, he thought. If they had been lucky enough, none of them would be here. They would be holding the line on some far away planet, or even celebrating after winning the war. But they hadn't been lucky enough, and now the Covenant were invading humanities very home world, poised to remove them from existence.

"When will we arrive at the drop zone?" The loud voice of the Elite broke his train of thought again. He shook his head, before looking up Vito.

"45 minutes", he quickly replied, "Is your squad ready?"

"We call it a lance. And yes, we are ready", the Ultra told him.

"Good", Andrews said. Vito 'Zamamee nodded and started to walk out, "Good luck out there", the captain called back. Vito stopped, looking back at Andrews

"You too human", he replied, before leaving the bridge.

Captain Andrews turned back to see his crew still looking at him. They were still worried about what the Elite had said, but they were mostly surprised that Captain Andrews had managed to have a friendly conversation with him. Most of them had been too afraid to even try talking to one.

Andrews ignored their stares and turned his attention back to the Lieutenant, "Lieutenant, prepare to take the ship down to the designated air space above London. Have all stations on alert just in case we encounter anymore of the Covenant."

"Er, y-yes sir", he replied, trying to recover from his shocked state. Captain Andrews ignored his stuttered response and turned to one of his Ensigns.

"Ensign, tell the ODST's to report to briefing room in ten minutes", he ordered. The Ensign nodded and quickly left the bridge. Andrews relaxed in his seat and looked out the bridge's windows. The fires of war could be seen even through the clouds.

He sighed, _"Hopefully this war will be over soon and we can live in peace once again."_

* * *

Vito 'Zamamee continued his walk back to the Sangheili quarters. He was surprised that the Human called Andrews had managed to have a conversation with him without showing any fear. Most humans tended to stay away from them. They were still afraid.

'_As they should be'_, he thought to himself. In his opinion, these humans were weak. Not grunt weak, but not anywhere near the level of the Sangheili. Ironic then that he now found his species needing humanity to survive.

'_Damn those overgrown apes! At least these people know the meaning of loyalty'_, he thought. In hindsight, he should have seen it coming. The Sangheili and Jiralhanae had always had a deep hatred towards each other. That, topped with the prophets wanting more loyal pawns to command, meant that the overthrowing of the Sangheili was inevitable.

It had still shocked many Sangheili though, and had resulted in the deaths of over half of the Sangheili in the military. In their anger and desperation, they had turned to humanity for help.

'_Perhaps these humans aren't so bad after all'_, he thought. They had accepted the alliance almost instantly. That was probably because they had been desperate, but it was nice to know the humans trusted them to a certain degree. That and they probably wouldn't betray them like the Jiralhanae and the rest of the Covenant.

'_The Jiralhanae will pay for their traitorous and cowardly act!'_ Vito 'Zamamee thought. He, like many Sangheili, couldn't wait to get some revenge.

**Thank you for reading. I didn't introduce any of the major characters in this chapter, I just wanted to show how the humans and Sangheili felt about working with each other. **


	2. Helljumpers

**Chapter 2**

_**UNSC Swiftsure**_**, Several miles above London**

**November 13****th**** 2552. 12:40 hours.**

In the barracks of the _UNSC Swiftsure_, one soldier sat by himself. William Martinez held a photo in his hand, a picture of his family. It was the only thing he still had left from them, apart from his fathers Energy Katana, which lay next to him. Tears fell down his face as memories of that final day with them came flooding back. He still missed them, even after all these years. In fact he missed everyone on Kholo, his home world. And now Earth was being invaded, and just like before, he could do nothing to stop it.

He was interrupted from any further thoughts by the sound of the door opening. He quickly put the photo in his pocket and rubbed his eyes in an attempt to hide the fact he had been crying.

"Hey Will, you in here?" Will knew that voice instantly. It was his best friend and fellow ODST, Shawn Walters. Shawn spotted Will and walked over to him, "Are you okay?"

"Y-yer of course", he said. Shawn raised an eyebrow at him.

"Bullshit you are, I can see you've been crying", he said, sitting down next to them, "What's wrong?" Instead of telling him, Will showed Shawn the picture.

"Ah. Your family", he said. Will only nodded, sniffling a bit. Shawn sighed, "Why now though? You haven't been like this in years."

Will took a deep breath, calming himself, "Seeing Earth like this, like Kholo, it just brought back memories about my family, and what happened all those years ago", he said, trying not to cry again.

Shawn quickly put his arm around his friend, patting him on the back, "You're worried Earth will end up just like your home world, aren't you?" he asked. Will nodded, "Hey, don't worry, it won't. And do you know why?"

"W-why?"

"Because the Earth has us. Badass ODST's who are gonna kick some major Covenant ass and win this war", he said, grinning the whole time, "Then we're gonna move somewhere tropical and live off the money we earn from being big heroes. Buy a fancy house, a nice car, and all the hookers you can dream of. That sound good?"

Will couldn't help but laugh, "Yer, it does", he said, before sighing, "I'm sorry Shawn. I'm an ODST; I should be stronger than this."

"Hey, you may be an ODST, but you're still human", Shawn said, before standing up, "Now go clean yourself up, the Captain wants us in the briefing room in 5 minutes, I don't he'll want to know that one of his brave ODST's has been crying." Will laughed.

"That's probably a good idea", he said, before looking back at Shawn, smiling, "Hey dude, thanks for cheering me up."

"No problem", he said, smiling back, "I'll see you there." Shawn then walked out of the barracks, leaving his friend to clean himself up. Will looked back at the photo. Instead of feeling sad though, he felt determination well up inside him.

'_I'm going to stop them. For you, for Kholo, and for Earth'_, he thought, before putting the photo away, and opening his locker. Inside he found his armour, a grey coloured ODST battle dress uniform, with a red stripe on the helmet. He pulled the armour out of the locker, quickly slipping into it. He then put his rucksack on, which carried all the supplies he would need for the mission, before finally sheathing his Energy Katana.

_'I'll get the rest of my weapons later, I'm going to be late if I stay any longer'_, he told himself. With that decided he closed his locker, before quickly leaving the room, making his way over to the briefing room.

* * *

Will arrived at the briefing room just in time, and slipped in unnoticed. He quickly found a seat next to one of his squad members, Aleski Nasenko, who seemed surprised at Will's sudden appearance.

"Will, what took you so long?" he asked in a strong Russian accent. "We were wondering where you were", he said, gesturing at the rest of the squad, who were all looking at him.

"He was just checking his weapons, weren't you?" Shawn quickly said.

"Y-yes. My M7S jammed during the last mission and I wanted to make sure it was working fine", he explained, silently thanking Shawn for saving his ass.

The leader of the squad, Archer Lovitz, nodded, satisfied at his answer. Apart from them there were two others members of Will's squad. There was Dale Chambers, who was the squads chief medic and second in command. And there was Lindsay Griffin, the squad's only female member, who seemed to look at him for a second longer than the others.

Any further conversation was prevented when the ships Lieutenant shouted, "Captain on deck!" All the ODST's in the room quickly rose and saluted as Captain Andrews walked in.

"At ease people", he said. Everyone quickly sat back down, "As you all know, the Covenant have launched a full scale invasion of Earth. They have deployed ground forces all over the world, including most of Earth's major cities. ODST's, it will be your mission to help maintain control of one of those cities, and that city is London." He quickly activated a hologram, showing a map of London.

"Now you will not be alone on this mission", he continued, "Not only will there be the Marines already within the city helping you, but the Elites too. I'm sure you've all seen them around the ship, they are going to be helping you on this mission."

A few of the ODST's fidgeted in their seats upon hearing the news. They were still apprehensive about working with the Elites.

Will was one of those people. He couldn't get past the fact that he had fought them for 5 years, that they had killed millions of humans and glassed hundreds of worlds. How could they have possibly changed? It was a matter of trust more than anything.

'_At least they aren't Brutes'_, he thought. He hated Brutes more than anything else. At least he had one thing in common with the Elites.

One ODST quickly put his hand up, signalling his desire to ask something.

"Yes soldier?" Captain Andrews said. The ODST promptly stood up.

"Sir, how do we know we can trust the Elites? I know they're in an alliance with us and everything, but who's to say they won't just betray us?" he asked. A lot of the ODST's around the room murmured in agreement.

The Captain stood them for a few moments, pondering an answer, before finally responding, "Because they trusted us enough to join sides with us. They are probably just as worried about us betraying them as you all are. And they need us. Without us, they would have to face the full force of the Covenant alone." He remained silent for a little while, allowing everyone to take in the information before continuing, "Look, I'm going to be honest with you. We need them just as much as they need us. Without them, we do not have the manpower to beat the Covenant. Without them, we could be completely annihilated within days. I know humans and Elites don't exactly have the best track record, but in order to beat the Covenant, we are going to have to trust each other."

There were a few moments of silence before the ODST responded, "Yes sir", he said, before sitting down. Happy that all his troops understood the situation, Captain Andrews continued the briefing.

Throughout the rest of the briefing, Will pondered what the Captain had said. Despite all his arguments, everything the Captain had said made sense.

'_Perhaps they do deserve a second chance'_, he thought. However, in order to know for sure, he would have to talk to one, get to know them better, _'There'll be plenty of time for that on the mission.'_


	3. Feet first into hell

**Well, here's chapter 3. Sorry for the wait, I was experiencing writers block and couldn't for the life of me write this chapter properly. But it here is now! Now that we've got most of the character introductions out of the way it should be a little easier for me to write.**

**Longest chapter so far and it finally has some action in (though not a whole lot). **

**Anyway, please enjoy, review, follow and favourite if you.**

**Chapter 3**

_**UNSC Swiftsure**_**, Several miles above London**

**November 13****th**** 2552. 12:57 hours.**

The barracks where William had once been where now occupied by another being. But this being was not of human origin, instead it was a female Elite. Faye 'Sumee strapped on the last piece of her golden armour, before sighing.

'_Two years of military service and I'm still a Minor'_, she thought to herself. It seemed unfair to her that she had not been promoted once in the two years she had been in the military. She had proven herself to be an able warrior worthy of the Ultra rank at least, but because she was a female her superiors had refused to promote her.

Of course they weren't the only ones that discriminated her because of her gender; in fact most Sangheili males did so. Sangheili males believed that females were inferior to them, and treated them as such. This meant that it was very rare for a female to be in a job such as the military. The only reason she was there was because of her brother, an Elite Major, had insisted she had the skill necessary for the job.

She was interrupted from any further thoughts by the sound of the door opening. Two of her lance members, both male, had just entered the barracks. Upon seeing her, they both smiled and walked up to her. Faye 'Sumee mentally prepared herself, she knew what was coming.

"Faye 'Sumee, there appears to be something wrong with your appearance", one of them said, "I do not believe that is the correct dress code for a house wife." The other Sangheili chuckled at his friend's remark. Faye 'Sumee rolled her eyes.

"You are correct. Fortunately I am not a house wife, I am soldier", she responded, keeping a straight face the entire time.

The second Sangheili growled at her, "Funny, but this is no place for a female. You are not smart enough or strong enough to survive out here! You should be back on Sangheilos, doing what is expected of you."

She chuckled, "What about you two then? I've already proven I'm smarter and stronger than both of you." This only angered the males. They really did have short tempers.

"Lies, a female cannot be stronger or smarter than male!" the first one shouted.

Faye 'Sumee smiled. _'Bad choice of words'_, she thought, before standing up.

"Allow me to rectify that then", she said, before delivering a powerful kick to the first male's crotch. He cried out in pain, before falling to the ground, tears welling up in his eyes.

"You'll pay for that bitch!" the second male shouted, before launching his fist at her face. However, before he could make contact he was intercepted by another hand, not belonging to Faye 'Sumee. Turning, she saw it was the hand of her brother, Thon 'Sumee.

He growled, "Back down soldier! That is an order" The second male quickly withdrew his hand, shaking in fear at the taller, higher ranking Sangheili before him, "Take your friend and get out of here before you end up in the same condition as him!"

"Y-yes Major!" he stuttered before picking up his friend and quickly running off.

Thon 'Sumee chuckled before turning back to his sister, "Are you ok?"

"You know I could have handled that without your help?" she said, pretending to glare at him.

"You're welcome", he responded sarcastically. There were a few moments silence, before they both started laughing.

"Thank you", she said once she had finished laughing.

He nodded in response, before putting his arm on her shoulder, "So little sis, are you ready for revenge and glory?" He, like most Sangheili, couldn't wait to take revenge of the Covenant, the Jiralhanae especially.

"Of course, though I am apprehensive about working with the humans", she admitted, "They were our enemies less than a month ago, how can we trust them now?"

"The Arbiter trusts them and so does our lance leader, so why shouldn't we?" he argued, turning away from her to slip on his armour, "Besides, they are probably just as apprehensive about it as we are. At least give them chance."

She was about to reply, when the ship suddenly rocked. Alarms started blaring as several Elites burst into the barracks to get their gear.

Vito 'Zamamee walked in behind them, already carrying his weapons, "Get your armour and weapons now. We need to get to the drop pods asap!"

"Sir, what's happening?" Thon 'Sumee asked him. They weren't supposed to deploy for another 20 minutes.

"The Covenant have found us. The human Captain has ordered us to deploy before they destroy this ship. Now move!" he shouted, running out of the barracks. His lance quickly followed him, eager to get down on the ground.

_'Just you wait Jiralhanae scum!'_ Faye 'Sumee thought to herself,_ 'Today will be the first of many bad days, I can promise you that!'_

* * *

"Lieutenant, give me a status report now!" Captain Andrews shouted as the ship rocked again.

"Two CPV destroyers are directly over London sir! They are firing at us and are launching enemy fighters", the Lieutenant replied.

"Launch Longswords!" he ordered, "Concentrate all our firepower on the nearest destroyer; we need to take it out otherwise it will pick off our drop pods!"

The Swiftsure responded, firing MAC cannons and ship to ship missiles at the nearest Covenant destroyer. The MAC rounds hit first, breaking through the shields and leaving a gaping hole in its left side. The missiles quickly followed, destroying the engines, causing the destroyer to plummet to the ground below. The bridge crew cheered as they watched it fall.

Their celebration was short lived as the second destroyer opened fire on them, landing several good hits on the front of the Swiftsure.

"Captain, we just lost both MAC cannons!" the Lieutenant said, turning to Andrews, "We need to pull back or else-"

"No!" Andrews shouted, startling the Lieutenant, "We stay here until the drop pods have been launched. Now return fire with everything we've got left! We have to buy them time!"

* * *

Will and Shawn ran towards the drop pods as fast as their legs could carry them as the ship continued to rock from enemy fire.

"I knew we should have got our weapons earlier!" Will shouted over the alarms.

"How was I supposed to know the Covenant were waiting for us and we'd have to deploy 20 minutes early?" Shawn shouted back.

When they finally arrived at the drop pods they were met by a very angry Captain Lovitz, "Where the fuck have you two been? You do realise everyone has been waiting for you?"

"Sorry sir... we had to... go to the barracks...first", William said between breaths.

"I don't want to hear your damn excuses, get in your drop pods now!" he shouted before climbing into his drop pod. Will made his way over to his drop pod, but was stopped by Shawn.

"Good luck man. I'll see you on the ground", he said before going to his drop pod.

"You too" Will replied, as he got into his drop pod. He closed the hatch, and put his weapons in the storage compartment so they wouldn't get damaged during the landing.

"Will?" Will looked up to see Lindsay on the screen in his drop pod, "I'm so glad you're ok. When you didn't arrive on time I thought something had happened."

"Hey! What about me?" Shawn shouted.

Will ignored his comment, blushing slightly at the fact that Lindsay had been concerned about him. He knew she liked, but he was unsure how he felt about her. Nevertheless, he replied, "Thanks but I'm okay, wouldn't miss this for the world."

"Save it for later love birds", Aleski said. Both Will and Lindsay went to stare at him on their screens, but his face was replaced by Captain Andrews.

"Captain Lovitz, give me some good news down there", he said.

"All ODST's are in their drop pods sir", Lovitz replied.

"What about the Elites?" he asked.

"We are also ready", Vito 'Zamamee said. The Captain sighed in relief.

"Thank God, I don't think we can hold them of much longer", he said as the ship took another hit, "When you land you'll be several miles away from your objective. You'll have to proceed on foot. I'm sorry but it's the best we can do."

"You've already done enough sir, just get us down there and then get the hell out of here", Lovitz said.

"Thank you. Good luck helljumpers, you too Elites", he said before he disappeared off the screen. Immediately the countdown was initiated.

"10, 9, 8, 7..."

"Oh yer! Here we go!" Shawn shouted.

"...6, 5, 4, 3..."

"Good luck ODST's. I'll see you down there", Lovitz said.

"...2, 1, 0"

"Hell yer!" Shawn screamed as the drop pods were launched out of the Swiftsure. Will couldn't help but enjoy the ride as well, it never got boring.

* * *

"Drop pods are away! We did it sir!", the Lieutenant said.

Andrews sighed, before turning his attention back to the battle, "How many weapons are still operational?"

"None sir. All ship to ship weapons have been destroyed" said one of the Ensigns.

"Damn it!" Andrews cursed, "What about the engines?"

"They took some damage but they're still working sir", he said.

Andrews sighed in relief, "Good. Pull the ship ba-"

"Captain, the destroyer is moving away from this ship. I think it's going to target the drop pods!" the Lieutenant interrupted, "If it does the drop pods will be destroyed before they get anywhere near the ground!"

"Damn it!" he shouted. All their sacrifice would be for nothing. There was no way they could stop the destroyer from attacking the drop pods...

...Unless.

_'The engines! That's it!'_ Andrews thought. It was the last thing he wanted to do, but the mission had to come first.

"Ensign, tell the Longswords to find another ship to dock in", he ordered. He then turned to another Ensign to his left, "Order a ship wide evacuation. Get everyone onto the Pelicans now!"

"We're abandoning ship?!" the Lieutenant said.

"No Lieutenant, you are. I'm staying here", Andrews said, turning back to the Ensign, "Give me complete control of the ship."

"But why?" the Lieutenant asked.

Andrews sighed, "The drop pods will never make it without help. And we don't have any weapons left. Our only option is to ram the destroyer."

"Sir that's suicide!" the Lieutenant argued, "Without shields there's no way the ship can survive such an impact!"

"Don't you think I know that already?" Andrews said, before sighing once more, "It has to be done. This mission is far more important than one ship. Now go, all of you! That's an order!"

The Ensigns quickly rushed towards the ships hangar, where the Pelicans would be. The Lieutenant was about to leave but was stopped by Andrews.

"Lieutenant", he said before putting something in his hands, "Take these. And if you see my wife, tell her I love her." The Lieutenant opened his hand. It was his Captains dog tags.

He gave Andrews a quick salute before saying, "Sir, it has been an honour to serve with you."

"And it has been an honour to have known you", the Captain responded, "Now go, the Pelicans won't wait forever." The Lieutenant nodded before leaving the bridge. He didn't want to leave the Captain, but he knew he wouldn't take no for an answer.

Andrews sighed before getting back in his seat. He stroked the control panel before him. He had never served upon another ship, even after 15 years of service. The Swiftsure was his home, his life, his friend. A tear rolled down his cheek as he aimed the Swiftsure at the destroyer's side.

"One last mission together, hey girl?" he said, before firing the engines, "Give 'em hell Swiftsure!"

* * *

"Shit, are they evacuating the ship?" Dale shouted as they watched the Pelicans leave the hangar.

"The Captain would never leave the Swiftsure. Something's not right", Will said. As if on cue, the destroyer started firing at them, destroying two pods within seconds. The pods were designed to sustain heavy impacts, not explosive rounds, and therefore offered little defence against the destroyer's guns.

"Aw shit!" Shawn shouted, "I don't want to die in here, that would be so anticlimactic!"

"Is that really all you're worried about?!" Lindsay shouted at him.

"Hey, if I die, I die. I just want to die in style, not in this tin can!" he said.

"Hey guys, look at the Swiftsure!" Will said, gaining everyone's attention. They looked up to see the Swiftsure was moving quickly towards the destroyer's side.

They suddenly picked up the Captain Andrews on the radio, broadcasting on an open channel, "This is Captain Andrews of the UNSC Swiftsure! Earth defence fleet, second cruiser group, oorah!"

Just as he finished his speech, the Swiftsure smashed into the destroyer. It was travelling at over 300 miles per hour and therefore easily smashed through the unshielded destroyer. It eventually hit the destroyer's ammunition storage, causing a massive explosion which engulfed both ships. The resulting shockwave hit the drop pods, causing them to veer of course.

"Ah shit!" Will cursed as his drop was pushed away from the others, "Guys I'm way off course... Er guys?" His screen was completely blank and all that was coming through his radio was static. This would be a big problem. How would he be able to find them if he couldn't communicate with them?

However, he soon realised not be able to contact his squad was the least of his worries, as drop pod descended towards the ground much faster than it normal did. With his drop pod showing no signs of slowing down, Will did the only thing he could think of.

"Shit! Shit! Shit!" he shouted before his drop pod smashed into the ground.

**Hope you enjoyed. Probably not my best piece of work but I wanted to get this chapter out of the way so I could get onto what you all came here for, action and inter-species relationships. Have a great day, more updates on the way!**


	4. Separation

**Phew! Finally got this out! I've had pretty bad writers block over the last couple days, so I struggled to write this chapter.**

**I'm sorry if it's not my best piece of work, this was a hard chapter for me to do. **

**Anyway, please enjoy.**

**Chapter 4**

**London, UK, Earth**

**November 13****th**** 2552. 15:52 hours.**

It was raining very heavily in the streets of London, as it often did at this time in the year. The heavy raindrops bounced off the lone drop pod, now imbedded in the middle of the street, waking the ODST within from his unconsciousness.

"Oh God, my head", Will moaned as he slowly regained consciousness. He was very thankful that he had been wearing his helmet at the time; otherwise he might not have a head anymore. After fully regaining consciousness, he took off his helmet, checking to see if had been damaged in the landing. It had a small scratch in it from where it had hit the drop pod door, but apart from that it seemed to be fine. He silently thanked the makers of his armour for being so good at their jobs before slipping his helmet back on.

'_Better contact my squad'_, he thought turning to his radio, _'I hope they are okay.'_ He had seen their drop pods get scattered in the blast and could only assume they were in a similar situation.

"This is William Martinez, does anyone read me?" he asked. Nothing, "Shawn, you there?" Still nothing, "Lindsay? Nasenko? Captain? Anyone?" Yet again, there was nothing.

"Damn it!" he shouted, slamming his fist against the radio. Not being able to make radio contact with them was not a good sign; it meant one of two things could have happened. Either the radios were playing up or something was interfering them, or something had happened to his squad mates. Will really hoped the later wasn't true.

*Knock knock knock*

The sudden sound of knocking against his drop pod caused Will to jump. He looked up to see a Marine staring back at him. The Marine looked to be in his thirties, and had a reasonable amount of stubble on his face. He smiled when he saw Will moving.

"Yeah, he's still alive", he shouted back to someone. He stepped aside as Will opened the pod door and carefully stepped out, wobbling slightly. Now out of the pod's confining space, he stretched, trying to stop the aching coming from his limbs. Looking around, he could see there were 8 other Marines, all watching him. There was one female, but apart from that the rest were males. They all looked pretty weary, probably from earlier engagements with the Covenant.

"You okay? Looks like you had a pretty rough landing there", the first Marine asked him. Will nodded before looking around more carefully. He didn't recognise the area he was in, which meant he wasn't where he should be. He should have been near the ONI headquarters, where his main objective was.

He turned back to the Marine in front of him, "Do you know where I am? I need to get to ONI headquarters and this doesn't seem like the right area", he asked.

"ONI headquarters? Sorry but that's several miles away, deep in Covenant territory", he said. Will sighed and looked down at the ground, feeling defeated inside. It would be impossible for him to get there by himself. Unless...

Will looked back up at the Marines before him, "I know this is a lot to ask, but could you guys help me? I need to reach my objective soon, otherwise we may lose the city", he said. The first Marine looked back at the rest of his squad, who all nodded at him.

He turned back to face the ODST in front of him, grinning, "What kind of marines would we be if we said no?" he said. Will grinned back at him, although this proved pointless given the fact he was still wearing his helmet. He instead opted to shake the marine's hand.

"Thank you, I appreciate the help", Will said to the entire squad, before turning back to the marine in front of him, "I am Private William Martinez. What is your name?"

"Sergeant Andrew Foley", he said, "It's a pleasure to work with you son."

Will nodded. With the pleasantries out the way, he went back to his drop pod and opened the weapons compartment. Thankfully none of his weapons had been damaged in the landing.

Inside his weapons compartment was a M6 handgun, an M7S SMG, a Battle rifle, a handful of grenades, and his personal favourite, an energy-tipped Katana. It was more than just a weapon to him; it was a reminder of his family, and one of the only things he had lest from them. He had been using since his first mission as a Marine, and was already good with it at the time thanks to the years of training his father had given him. Quickly rearming himself, he turned back to the Marines in front of him, M7S in hand.

"Which way to ONI headquarters?" Will asked. Foley shrugged in reply.

"Don't know. We're kind of lost really. With all the fighting that's been going on down here it's hard not to get lost", Foley admitted. Will sighed, before looking around. There had to be something around here to help them. An idea came to mind when he spotted a tall building a few blocks away

"See that building there?" he said, pointing at the building. The Marines nodded. "It's the tallest building in this area. We'll go to the roof and, hopefully, we'll be able to see where ONI headquarters is. We can also use it as a resting place for the night."

"Good plan", Foley said. He then turned back to the Marines, "Alright squad, you heard the man, let's move out!"

"Oorah!" they all shouted before setting off towards the building, Foley and Will trailing behind them.

* * *

They had been walking for roughly ten minutes, and had yet to encounter a single Covenant patrol. With the coast clear, Will allowed himself to ask a question that had been bugging him since he had first met the marines.

"Your squad seems pretty small; usually there's 15 to 20 marines in a squad. What happened to the rest of them?" he asked.

"You noticed that did you?" Foley asked, before sighing, "There were 20 of us to begin with, but we encountered a Scarab yesterday. With the radios down, and no way to call for back up, we never stood a chance."

"I'm sorry", Will said. Deep down he had known the Marines had probably been killed, but the news about the Scarab worried him. Scarabs were by far the most dangerous Covenant ground vehicle, and nearly impossible to take down without air support. In his 6 years of fighting, he had never successfully taken down one, even during his time as an ODST.

'_Hopefully we can avoid it this time'_, he thought to himself.

"What about your squad? You guys normally work in 6's right?" Foley asked.

"Yeah, we do. I lost contact with my squad when the Swiftsure and Covenant destroyer blew up", Will answered, "We must have been scattered across the city by the explosion."

"I saw that. Hell of way for a ship to go down", Foley said, shaking his head, "Was anyone still on the ship?"

Will sighed, "Most of the crew got off, but Captain Andrews stayed behind. Without him I don't think any of us could have made it."

"Brave man", was all Foley said. Will nodded in reply. It was true, without Andrews the destroyer probably would have killed him and his entire squad. He hadn't known the man personally, but had deeply respected him, and it hurt to know he was gone.

'_Another reason to end this stupid war'_, he thought. Too many good people had been lost in this war, and Will was determined to make sure it didn't happen again.

One of the Marines at the front of the group put his hand up, silently telling everyone to stop. He then signalled for everyone to follow him, before leaning against one of the buildings, right next to the corner. Will quickly moved next to him.

"What do you see?" he whispered, hoping that whatever they were hiding from couldn't hear them.

"See for yourself sir", he replied. Will moved to the edge of the wall, and slowly put his head round the corner.

There was a small courtyard not far in front of him. It had no cover, so he could easily see just what the Marine had seen. One Brute and four Grunts were gathered around a drop pod, trying to open it. The drop pod in question wasn't a human one, it was far too tall.

'_Maybe it's one of the Elites'_, Will thought. He was a little disappointed the drop pod didn't belong to one of his squad mates, but that didn't really matter right now. Whoever was in that drop pod could help them on their mission, regardless of what species they were. He quickly turned back to the Marines.

"There's one Brute and four Grunts around that corner", he whispered to them, "They're distracted by a drop pod and haven't spotted us yet." The Marines nodded in understanding.

The female Marine was the first to speak up, "So what's the plan sir?"

"We move in quietly and take them out. There's no cover so it should be-"Will stopped speaking when he heard gunshots. Quickly looking round the corner, he saw several purple bolts coming from the drop pod, dropping one of the Grunts. Whoever was in the pod was still alive, but he knew they needed help. He turned back to the Marines.

"Okay scrap that plan", he said to them, while pulling out his BR, "We go in now and save whoever's in that drop pod." The Marines nodded. Happy that the marines had his back, Will took a deep breath before charging round the corner.

He raised his BR and fired, quickly dropping the nearest Grunt. The Marines quickly followed, firing their assault rifles at the remaining Grunts. Overwhelmed by superior firepower, the Grunts were quickly killed, leaving only the Brute.

The Brute quickly raised its concussion rifle, firing at the Marines. With their clips now empty, and the Brute now firing at them, the Marines had no choice but to jump back into cover. This left only Will to face the Brute.

The Brute, now out of ammunition for its gun, charged the ODST before it. Will quickly raised his BR again, emptying the rest of his clip into the Brute. Unfortunately for Will, he could only break the Brutes shield before it collided with him, knocking him onto the floor.

The brute jumped on top of Will, trying to strangle him, but Will had other ideas and delivered a powerful punch to the Brutes face, disorientating it. He quickly followed it with a kick to its abdomen, causing it to stumble off him.

He tried to get up, but the Brute kicked him in face, causing him to fall down again. When he looked back at the Brute, he saw it was now pointing its Plasma pistol at him.

In his peripheral, Will could see the Marines charging the brute. He knew they would never reach the Brute in time to save him.

'_So this is how I die'_, he thought before closing his eyes, waiting for the inevitable to happen. His only regret was failing his parents, his squad, and his people, and of course dying at the hands of a Brute.

*Bip, Bap, Bam* **(That still sounds weird, but I guess it's better than pew, pew, pew XD)**

Will heard the familiar sound of a Plasma pistol firing, but after a few seconds of waiting he realised he hadn't felt a thing. He opened his eyes, and looked up at the Brute. It swayed a few times before falling forwards. Will could see several burn marks in its back where Plasma shots had hit the Brute.

He suddenly noticed a large figure approaching him. Looking up, he saw an Elite in gold armour slowly approach him, Plasma pistol in hand. When the Elite finally got to him, it extended its hand towards him. Will was surprised by this, but quickly grabbed the Elites hand, which helped him up.

"Erm...er", Will said, almost speechless. He never thought an Elite would save his life, "T-thank you, you saved my life."

The Elite stared at him for several seconds before replying, "You are welcome human."

Will was surprised when he heard the Elite's voice. The Elite was a female. He hadn't realised this when he first saw her, but now she was closer he could see the differences she had to her male counterparts.

She was shorter than the average Elite, just over 7 ft tall. Her mandibles were also shorter, meaning she could use far more facial expressions than a male. Looking further down, he could see she was curvier than Elite males, reminding him of human females.

'_Probably why she wears armour on her chest'_, he thought. He looked back to see she was staring at him again.

"Are you enjoying the view human?" she asked. Will suddenly realised he had basically been checking her out. He quickly stepped back, blushing heavily.

"N-no, of course not", he stuttered, "I just didn't know you were a female." It took a second for Will to realise what he had said and he quickly covered his mouth. He had never been good with words, especially when it came to women, but this was by far the stupidest thing he had ever said.

The Elite growled at him and twitched her mandibles, clearly annoyed at what he had said. The Marines looked on in fear; the prospect of facing an angry Elite certainly scared them.

"W-what I meant to say is I've never seen a female Elite before, and that's why I was looking at you like that. I'm sorry if I offended you, I was just curious", he quickly apologised, hoping it would be enough to stop her from tearing him in two.

The Elite thought for a moment, before sighing, "Apology accepted human." The Marines around them sighed in relief, thankful that they didn't have to deal with an angry Elite.

Happy that he had mended the situation, Will spoke up, "How about we start again?" he asked before extending his right hand towards the Elite in front of him, "My name is William Martinez, what's yours?"

'_Well at least he is polite...sort of'_, she thought to herself. It was certainly something she couldn't say about males of her own species, _'Maybe these humans won't be so bad after all.'_

She quickly raised her hand to shake Will's hand before saying, "My name is Faye 'Sumee." Will was relieved, with the awkward bit out of the way he could return to more important matters, like the mission at hand.

"Pleasure to meet you Faye 'Sumee", he said, releasing her hand, "Where is the rest of your squad? I thought there were several of you."

"There were but the explosion scattered us across this city, much like you and your lance", she said, before sighing, "I can't seem to make radio contact with them either."

"All the radios are down", Foley said, drawing the attention of the Elite, "Is it possible the Covenant could be responsible for this?"

Faye nodded, "Yes, they have interference towers which they sometimes use during major invasions. We would have to destroy it in order to regain radio contact", she explained. Will nodded in understanding.

"Right, change of plan then. We go to the roof of that building..." he pointed at the building so Faye understood him what he meant, before continuing, "We find the location of the interference tower, destroy it, and then get back in contact with the rest of the ODST's and Elites. Then we can make our way to ONI headquarters and complete the mission. Everyone understand?"

"Sir Yes sir!" the Marines shouted before moving out, leaving Will with Faye.

"So, are you coming with us? We could really use the help", Will asked, pulling out his M7S at the same time.

Faye sighed, "I guess I don't have a choice", she replied, feigning annoyance. In reality she was happy the human had asked for her help, she knew she couldn't get through the city without them. Will patted her on the back, grinning up at her.

"That's the spirit!" he replied. "Now come on, we don't want to be left behind by the others", he said as he started walking in the way the Marines went.

Faye quickly caught up with him. "One question though, will you help me find my lance?" she asked.

"Of course", he replied, "We're allies, and allies help each other." Happy with his answer, Faye nodded and continued to walk towards the tall building, now only a few blocks away.

Will watched the Elite as they walked. He never thought he'd actually work with an Elite, even with their alliance. It was surprise to him, but not a particularly bad one. He had seen them fight before, and he was almost certain the addition would drastically improv their odds of survival.

'_Well, time to see if this alliance can really work'_, he thought to himself, before finally catching up with the Marines, _'It's going to be an interesting couple of days.'_

**Finally got some action in this story. Crazy, I know! Anyway, I hope you enjoyed it, more updates on the way.**


	5. It's a trap

**Here's another chapter for you lovely people ;) I can't thank you guys enough for all the follows, favourites, and reviews, each one means so much to me. ****Anyway, lots of action in this chapter, I hope you enjoy it. **

**Chapter 5**

**London, UK, Earth**

**November 13****th**** 2552. 17:36 hours.**

The rain continued to pour down as the group walked down one of the many roads leading towards their destination. The building was now only two blocks away and it wouldn't take them more than half an hour to get there.

Despite this however, the group was on edge. It had been over an hour since they had found, and they hadn't encountered a single Covenant patrol. This usually would have been a good thing, but it didn't seem right to them.

"I don't like this, we're deep inside Covenant territory and we haven't encountered a single patrol. Something's not right here", Foley said. The Marines nodded in agreement as they continued to scan the buildings and alleyways around them for signs of movement.

"What do you think they are doing?" Will asked Faye, receiving a sigh in reply.

"With the Jiralhanae in charge, I do not know. They are cunning, and do not understand honour, they could be up to anything", she said bitterly.

Will was about to reply, when he saw something in is peripheral vision. He turned to look at it, but saw nothing.

"Stop!" he ordered. The group quickly stopped, looking at him.

"What is it?" Foley asked.

"I saw movement in that building" he said, pointing at it, "Sixth floor up, in that window over there." The group looked over at the window, aiming down their sights to get a better view.

"I don't see anything", Faye said, "Are you sure you saw something?"

"Yes, I'm sure. I just don't know what it was. It could of been human or Covenant", he said, continuing to stare at the window.

"Shit!" one of the Marines shouted, "I saw something down the street!" The group turned to look, but saw nothing.

"What did you see?" Will asked. The Marine shrugged in reply.

"I don't know, it disappeared before I could get a good look at it. Oh shit, I don't like this one bit!" he said nervously. The other Marines also looked nervous.

"I think it would be good idea if we took cover right about now", Faye said quietly to Will.

Will nodded, "Ok guys, lets-"He never finished his sentence, as a shot whizzed past him, hitting the Marine in front of him. The Marine never stood a chance, and slumped to the ground, dead.

"Sniper! Take cover!" Foley shouted. The group quickly obeyed, splitting up and hiding behind several cars. Will slid into cover behind one of cars, alongside Faye and the female Marine.

"Did anyone see where the shot came from?" Will asked, pulling out his BR.

"No exactly sir, but I think the shot came from the building you mentioned earlier", the female Marine said. Will cursed; they were in a lot of trouble right now. How could this get any worse?

"Oh my god! Sir we got fifty plus foot mobiles moving down the street towards us!" one of the Marines shouted. Will looked through a car window, and saw the large patrol moving towards them. They spotted him and opened fire, forcing Will to take cover again.

"The cowards drew us into a trap!" Faye said angrily, firing her Needle rifle at the patrol, killing an exposed Grunt. Three of the Marines also fired into the group, dropping two more Grunts. However, the Covenant sniper fired again, hitting one of them in the head.

"Shit! Jenkins is down!" one of the Marines shouted, pulling the body of his comrade behind a car, "Damn it, he's dead!"

"Will", Faye said, drawing his attention, "I saw where the shot came from this timw. If you can give me an open shot, I will kill him." Will nodded, before turning to Foley, who was behind another car.

"Foley, we know where the sniper is! We need suppressing fire on the Covenant patrol!" he shouted to Foley.

"We can't! They have us pinned down!" he shouted back, cursing as plasma shot landed right next to him, "You've got to find another way!"

Will cursed. They were in an almost impossible position. If they moved, the sniper would easily pick them off. If they stayed, the patrol would eventually get them. It would take a miracle to save them.

That was when Will noticed the ODST standing further down the street. He couldn't tell if it was one of his squad members, but he could easily see the rocket launcher in their hand. The ODST pointed the rocket launcher at the Covenant patrol.

"Say hello to my little friend!" the ODST shouted, before firing the rocket launcher. Will knew only one person who would say a one liner as cheesy and cliché as that. It was Shawn. The rocket flew over the heads of the Marines, before exploding near the patrol, killing several of them.

"Now Foley, while they're distracted!" Will shouted. Foley nodded, before he and several other marines peeked out of their cover, firing at the Covenant patrol. Meanwhile, Faye lined her Needle rifle up, waiting for the sniper to appear.

She didn't have to wait long, as the Jackal sniper peered over its cover, attempting to shoot one of the now exposed Marines. She quickly fired, and the needle bolt stuck hard and true, imbedding itself in the Jackals head.

"Yes! Great shot!" Will praised. The rest of the group cheered, causing Faye to blush. She never received any praise from her lance, and this was a welcome change.

Shawn quickly ran up to them, and slid into cover next to Will. "Did you miss me?" he said in a cocky voice.

"Man, you do know how to make an entrance don't you? Thanks for saving our asses", he replied, bro fisting his friend.

"You're welcome. Now, are we gonna finish this, or just hide behind this car all day?" he asked. Will knew he was grinning underneath that helmet. He quickly turned to Foley.

"Foley, we're going to need covering fire on my mark!" he shouted, receiving a nod in reply. He then turned to the two humans and the Elite around him, "Right, here's the plan. The Marines will give us covering fire while we engage them in close combat. Faye , you're with me, Shawn, you're with-"

"Natasha Williams", she interrupted. She knew he didn't know her name. Will blushed slightly, before nodding.

"Thank you", he said, before looking back at Shawn, "You're with her."

Shawn looked at her, grinning under his helmet, "Glad I could work with you beautiful." Natasha just rolled her eyes, causing Shawn to laugh.

"Alright, you guys ready?" he asked, drawing his SMG. They all nodded, before also drawing their close range weapons. Shawn had his shotgun, Natasha her pistol, and Faye was dual wielding Needler's. Will took a deep breath.

"Now Foley!" he shouted, before him and the small squad broke cover and ran towards the remaining Covenant troops. Foley and the Marines opened fire, making it impossible for the Covenant troops to shot at the squad charging them.

Will quickly slid past one of the cars, shooting the Grunts that were hiding behind it. He then rolled to the left, dodging the incoming Grav hammer of a Brute, before smashing its face with the butt of his gun. It stumbled back, giving Will the opening to draw his Katana, which he promptly stabbed into the Brute's neck.

Faye came up behind him, firing her Needler's at several Grunts who were trying to flank Will. She then emptied the remainder of the ammunition on two Brute's, killing one and injuring the other. The injured Brute fired its Plasma rifle at her, but she dodged the shots, before tackling the Brute to the ground. She punched it several times in the head, before drawing her energy dagger, slicing it across the Brute's throat.

Shawn quickly ran past her, raising his shotgun and firing several shots into a group of Grunts, cutting them to pieces. Putting away his now empty shotgun, he grabbed a Jackal and threw against a car, smashing its head through the window. He then drew his combat knife and rammed it into the head of another Jackal.

Natasha was the last to arrive, firing several precise shots into a Brute who was attempting to attack Shawn from behind. She then dodged a Plasma grenade, firing her remaining clip at the Grunt who threw it. She pulled out a grenade, released the pin, and threw it into a large group of Covenant troops, killing them all.

A Brute suddenly appeared beside her, punching her hard in the face before she could react. She fell to the ground, and the Brute put its foot on her, before drawing its knife. It was about to stab her, when Shawn jumped on its back and stabbed it. It staggered off Natasha, trying to grab the ODST on its back.

"You don't hit women asshole!" he shouted, stabbing it again. This only angered the Brute who grabbed him by the arm and threw him into a car.

"No!" Natasha screamed before drawing her combat knife, stabbing it into the Brute's abdomen. She then kicked it hard in the crotch, causing it to scream in pain and fall to its knees. She pulled her knife out of the Brute's abdomen, before slitting its throat. With the Brute dead, she ran up to Shawn, "Are you ok?"

Shawn laughed weakly. "Yep, he just knocked the wind out of me, but thank you", he said, smiling at her as she helped him up.

Meanwhile Will and Faye teamed up to fight the last of the Covenant troops, a Brute chieftain. It swung its Grav hammer at Will, who just avoided it by jumping backwards. Faye came up on its right, punching the Brute in the head. It stumbled a bit, but quickly recovered and swung its hammer at her. She tried to jump over it, but it clipped her foot, sending her crashing down on the ground. The Brute laughed, before raising its hammer above its head, intent on bringing it down on the Elite before it.

Will saw this and quickly charged the Brute, slamming into its side just as it brought the hammer down. The hammer missed Faye's head by inches, imbedding itself in the ground next to her, and she looked at it with wide eyes. The Brute roared in anger and dropped the hammer, before grabbing Will by the neck and lifting him in the air. He dropped his Katana, bringing his hands to his neck, trying to stop the Brute from crushing it. It laughed and started tightening its grip, slowly choking him.

Faye knew she had to act quickly in order to save him. Drawing her energy dagger, she spun it around in her hand before throwing it at the Brute, hitting it right between the eyes. The Brute staggered back a bit, before releasing Will from its grip, and falling to the ground. Will coughed several times, breathing heavily. A few seconds later and the Brute probably would have killed him.

She moved to his side, helping him up. "Thanks, you saved my life again", he said, smiling up at her. For the first time since he had met her, she smiled back.

"And you saved mine. Thank you", she said. He nodded back at her as Foley and the other marines arrived.

"That was one hell of a fight. You guys okay?" he asked them. They all nodded in reply, none of them having suffered any major wounds, "Thank God. I thought none of us were going to make it out of there for a second."

Will sighed, looking down at the ground. "I'm sorry, it was all my fault", he said, "I led you into this trap. I didn't act quickly enough and now two people are dead."

Faye shook her head, still smiling at him.

"It's not your fault; none of us saw it coming. And you did the best you could've in the situation", she said. Will was surprised that she had defended him, but quickly smiled back at her.

"Thanks", he said, looking at the scene before him, "Let's get out of here now. Other Covenant patrols will have heard that and I don't want to be here when they arrive."

"Agreed. I think we all deserve a rest anyway", Foley said. The other Marines nodded in agreement. Before they left Foley collected the dog tags from the dead Marines. This confused Faye.

"What are they?" she asked Will as they started walking again.

"Those are dog tags; everyone in the military has one. They have our names and identification number on them", he explained, "Don't you guys have them?" She shook her head.

"So why did the Sergeant take the dog tags from the dead Marines? What's the point?" she asked, not fully understanding.

"There often taken if we can't retrieve the body, to show that the soldier has died. It's a tradition really, we've been doing it for hundreds of years", he explained further.

Faye nodded in response, now fully understanding why the humans did it. In way she was kind of sad her species didn't have similar system. Usually there wasn't any opportunity for them to collect the body, and so most dead Sangheili's were left unaccounted for. It was another sad truth about her species.

**I hope you all enjoyed it. Be sure to leave a review, and follow and favourite if you enjoy it. More updates are on the way.**


	6. Doubts

**Well here it is, a day late. Sorry about that, didn't have the time to finish this yesterday.**

**It was little hard for me to write this chapter in a way which seemed natural, but I think I got it in the end.**

******Anyway, I hope you guys enjoy it. **

**Chapter 6**

**London, UK, Earth**

**November 13****th**** 2552. 18:25 hours.**

"All clear! Move across the street!" Will ordered. The group quickly moved to the building across the road, checking their flanks for any sign of Covenant activity as they did so. They stacked up next a door, ready to enter. It had taken them 10 long minutes, but they had finally arrived at the target building. Will tried to open the door, but it wouldn't budge.

"Damn it! It's stuck!" he said. He tried picking the lock with his combat knife, but that didn't work either.

"Would you hurry up?! We're sitting ducks out here!" Shawn said to him. None of them wanted to get caught by the Covenant again. Will resorted to kicking the door several times, mostly out of frustration. Faye sighed before walking up to the door.

"Stand back", she said, moving him out the way. She then brought her leg up and delivered a powerful kick to the door, breaking it in two. Will just looked at her, stunned.

"See, that's how you do it. I guess you weren't trying hard enough", she said, smiling smugly at him.

"Show off", he muttered. Faye chuckled at his remark, before entering the building. The rest of the squad quickly followed her, only too happy to get out of the open.

* * *

Once they had checked the building for any signs of life, to which they found none, the squad quickly made their way up onto the roof. They looked over the city, which was getting harder to see due to the darkening sky.

It was a saddening sight. Most of the once great city lay in ruins before them. Many buildings had been damaged, fires raged across the city, and several blocks had been flattened by the remains of the crashed Covenant destroyer.

"Oh my god, look at it!" Natasha said, "I didn't think it would be that bad." Shawn turned to Will.

"The rest of our squad is in that!?" he said. Will sighed, nodding in reply. Even Faye was saddened by the view before her.

'_And we did this to all their planets'_, she thought, feeling guilt build up inside her. She had been a part of this for almost 2 years, and only now was she realising just how much the humans suffered.

"There", Will said, pointing at a building several miles eastwards, "ONI headquarters is several miles in that direction." Foley moved next to him, looking at the building in the distance.

"What about the interference tower?" he asked. Will pulled out his BR and looked down his sights, scanning the city below. It took him a few moments to find what he was looking for.

"There it is, on top of that building", he said, pointing to another building a few blocks down, which had a purple spire on top of it, "Can't be more than a few blocks down."

"So I guess we're sticking to the plan then?" Foley asked.

Will nodded, "Yes, we deal with the tower, then make our way over to ONI headquarters. Shouldn't take us more than a day or two. Is that okay with everyone?" The squad nodded, happy with the plan, "Okay then, let's get inside and rest for the night."

* * *

**A few hours later**

They had set up camp a few floors down. There were easily enough rooms for everyone had their own, and Will sat alone in his, staring at the makeshift fire before him.

Everything here reminded him of his home world. All the death, all the destruction, it was like he was there all over again. But what was worse was the fact that he knew he had the ability to prevent this, and yet he was not.

'_How can I save these people?' _he thought, doubt creeping into his mind. He had been confident earlier, but the Covenant trap had changed that, _'How can I even lead my squad if I fell for a trap so obvious? How can I-'_

*Knock, knock, knock*

The knocks at his door brought him out of his thoughts. He turned to look at the door.

"Come in", he said, thinking it was Shawn, or at least Foley. It wasn't, it was Faye. He was surprised to say the least.

"What do you want?" he asked her. She took a seat next to him. He looked at her and saw that her cheeks were turning slightly purple.

'_Is she blushing?'_ he asked himself. He knew Elites had purple blood, but he was still unsure whether she was blushing or not.

"I wanted to see how you were. You didn't talk during the meal, and I thought something might be wrong", she said, rubbing her hands together nervously. She wasn't used to talking to people like this, especially humans, but she felt like she had to do this.

"I'm fine", he lied. She responded with a light chuckle, shaking her head.

"I may not be an expert on humans, but I know when someone is lying, and you are a very bad liar", she said, before looking him in the eyes, "Now tell me what's wrong. I only want to help."

Will sighed, looking back at the fire, "I can't lead these people. I made such a foolish mistake today, and we lost two good men because of it."

"Will, I've only know you for one day, and in that time I've already come to respect you", she said. Will looked back at her, "Don't doubt yourself. It wasn't your fault those men died, you could never have seen it coming. And without your leadership, we never would have got out of there alive."

"Thanks. I really needed that", he said, smiling at her. He didn't entirely believe her, but it was nice to know someone believed in him.

She smiled back for a second, before looking down at the ground, sighing, "And I'm sorry", she said. He looked at her with a confused expression.

"Sorry for what?" he asked, unsure what she meant. She sighed again, before looking out the window.

"For 2 years, I fought against your kind. For 2 years, I killed humans, I helped capture cities, and I watched as the Covenant glassed world after world, and I never thought anything about it. But, seeing your city like this, and the pain it caused you, Shawn, and the Marines, it genuinely hurt me. And I'm so sorry for being a part of that for so long", she said, tears staring to well up in her eyes. Will saw this and quickly brought his arm around her.

"Hey, don't cry, I forgive you", he said softly to her. She looked at him, surprised by what he had said.

"How can you forgive me, knowing I was a part of this?" she asked.

"Because I know you're a good person, and that you're genuinely sorry", he said, smiling at her. She smiled back, blushing at his compliment.

"T-thank you", she said, embracing him. Will was surprised by her sudden embrace, but quickly returned it. When they pulled out they were both visibly blushing, "I'm sorry, I'm not used to such kindness."

"Why not?" he asked, confused at her response.

"Because I am a female", she answered simply. Will just stared at her, almost too shocked to speak.

"What?!" was all he managed to say.

"The males of my species believe themselves to be superior to the females. Because of that we are treated differently. This fact is no more apparent than in the military", she told him.

"So what happens to you?" he asked her. She sighed, looking back at the now dying fire before her.

"Every day I am subjected to sexism. My lance members will often make sexist remarks about how I am weaker or stupider than them. Even after successful missions, all I am told is 'A male could have done it better'. Also, despite being in the military for 2 years, I am still only a minor. According to my superiors, females don't have what it takes to lead", she explained. Will remained silent for a second, contemplating what he had just heard.

"That's terrible", he said, putting one of his hands on hers. She looked up at him in surprise, blushing quite badly. "I promise you that for as long as you are with us, you will be treated as an equal", he told her softly, smiling at her. She smiled back, before hugging him again. He wasn't as surprised this time and quickly reciprocated the hug.

"Thank you", she said quietly, before getting up, making her way to the door, "I-I should go now, it's getting quite late."

"Thank you", he said, "For making me feel better." She chuckled, before turning back to him.

"No, thank you, for treating me as an equal", she said, smiling at him, "Good night." And with that, she left the room. Now alone, Will turned back to the fire as it slowly burnt itself out. Despite everything that had just happened, there was only one thing on his mind.

'_Damn, she's cute when she blushes.'_

**Hope you guys enjoyed that, please review, and follow and favourite if you enjoyed it. More updates are on the way.**


	7. Shawn, you're annoying

**Hey guys, this updates coming earlier than expected, the reason being I haven't had a lot to do these past few days, so I've spent my time working on this.**

**As someone pointed out in the last chapter, I may have been a little quick with Will and Faye 'Sumee's relationship. I'm therefore going to slow it down a bit. I want it to be the best reading experience it can be for you guys so I won't rush it.**

**Anyways, enjoy the chapter.**

**Chapter 7**

**London, UK, Earth**

**November 14****th**** 2552. 08:57 hours.**

Will stood near the window, enjoying the warmth from the early morning sun. He was in one of the larger rooms with the rest of his squad. They all going about their own business; eating breakfast, putting on armour, prepping weapons. But he didn't need to do that, he was completely ready.

He was currently thinking back to the events of last night, and how they had been both enlightening and confusing. Faye's visit had certainly cheered him up, and given him more confidence in his abilities to lead. He also felt happy he had managed to make her feel better in a way.

But some the events had confused him. She had blushed quite a bit during their talk, which seemed out of character for her. Not that he was complaining, he found it rather cute. Her embrace had also surprised him, but what had surprised him most was the fact that she had opened up to him, someone she had known for less than a day, and a former enemy at that. He couldn't understand why she had done it, but he was grateful for it. It showed she trusted him somewhat.

"So, how was last night?" The familiar voice brought him out of his train of thought. He turned to see Shawn standing next to him, grinning from ear to ear.

"What do you mean?" he asked. Shawn laughed.

"I saw Faye going into your room last night. So, how was she? What's it like to do an Elite?" he asked.

"What, nothing happened!" Will replied, "She was only in there for five minutes, and all we did was talk."

"Oh yes, I can imagine the conversation", he said, before clearing his throat. "Oh Will, I love you so, but alas, it is forbidden", Shawn said in his best female voice. He then switched to his best Will impression, "Nothing is forbidden, my love. Now let us-"

He was interrupted by a heavy slap to the back of the head from Faye, who growled angrily at him. "Nothing happened, so I suggest you stop it before I get mad and kick you out of the window", she said darkly. Shawn laughed nervously, unsure whether she was joking or not.

"O-of course! Now if you excuse me, I think I hear Natasha calling", he said, before running off.

"Your friend is annoying", Faye told Will, staring at Shawn as he ran off. Will laughed at her comment.

"Yeah he can be a bit of a smartass sometimes, but his a good guy once you get to know him", he told her. She nodded in reply, before turning to leave. "And thank you, last night really helped", he said, smiling at her.

"It helped me too", she said quietly, smiling back at him.

"I knew it! You two did have sex!" Shawn shouted at them, causing some of the squad to laugh. They both blushed, but Faye quickly replaced her blush with an angered expression, drawing her energy dagger.

"Oh shit!" was all he said before taking off again, this time with an angry Elite not far behind him. Will and several members of the squad laughed at the sight.

"You think she'll kill him?" Foley asked as he moved next to him.

"No, she'll probably just punch him a few times", he joked, before sighing, "You guys ready? Who knows what we'll find out there today." Foley nodded.

"We're ready, what about you? Yesterday must have been pretty bad for you", he asked. It had been, but the visit from Faye had given him some confidence back.

"I'm ready. I suppose we should get going then", he said. Foley nodded, before leaving to get the squad together. Will looked back out at the city as it basked in the morning sun.

'_Today will be different'_, he promised himself. He wouldn't make the same mistake again.

* * *

**30 minutes later**

"What do you see?" Shawn asked as Foley looked at the courtyard in front of the target building. They had taken cover in a building across the road, and were now peering through some of the windows.

"One Banshee, one Ghost, several Brutes, and a whole lot of Grunts and Jackals", he told them, "This is going to be harder than expected."

"So what's the plan?" Natasha asked him. Will gathered the squad around a table, pulling a map of the city out from his rucksack, before spreading it across the table.

"As we can see from the map, there's more than one way into the building. I suggest we go around the block and come in from another direction" he suggested.

"And how are we going to do that without getting spotted?" one of the Marines asked. Will thought about this for a second, before a plan came to mind. It was risky, but if performed correctly it could work really well.

"Okay, here's an idea, we split our squad in two smaller groups. One group stays here and distracts the Covenant forces, while another smaller group goes around and enters the building from the other direction", he told them.

"Is it wise to split the squad up?" Faye asked him.

"Do you have a better idea?" he asked her. He didn't receive an answer, "Look, I know it's a dangerous plan, but if it pays off we can get in and out without losing anyone. Besides, it's a better idea than just charging straight in." The Marines nodded, his logic was sound.

"Okay, so who will be in the smaller squad?" Foley asked.

"We need people who are good at fighting in close quarters. Me and Shawn will definitely go; we're both close quarter specialists", he said, receiving a nod in confirmation from Shawn.

"I volunteer to go", Faye told him.

"As do I", Natasha said. Will nodded at both of them; he had seen them in action yesterday and knew they would be the best choices.

"Okay, so we've got the squads, now what do you want us to do?" Foley asked.

"Keep them busy for as long as possible, we'll radio you when it is done. I don't need anything special, I just need you to distract them", he told them, "Once we're done you can fall back and we'll meet up somewhere else."

"Sir, will this really work?" one of the Marines asked.

"It will work, trust me", he told them.

"Right you heard the man, spread out across the building!" Foley ordered. The Marines quickly obeyed, running off to find areas with good cover. Will turned to Shawn.

"Shawn, give them the rocket launcher", he ordered.

"What?! But this is my baby!" he said, holding it tightly. Will sighed.

"Shawn, they need it more than you. Besides, you'll get it back when we meet back up", he told him. Shawn sighed, before handing the rocket launcher to one of the Marines.

"I better get it back", he mumbled. With that done, the small squad began to make their way out of the building.

"Will!" Foley called. The squad turned back, looking at him "Good luck out there!"

"You too", he replied, before leaving.

* * *

"Why are we waiting, this is boring", Shawn moaned as the squad hid behind one of the buildings. Faye slapped him over the head.

"Would you quit moaning? We are waiting for the Marines to start distracting them", she said, clearly getting annoyed at Shawn's child-like attitude.

"And when will that be?" he asked. Will groaned at his friends obvious attempts to annoy them.

"When they are ready, now shut up!" he ordered.

Shawn was about to speak again, when a missile was fired from the building the Marines were in. It hit the banshee, causing it to spin out of control and smash into a building. The Covenant were caught off guard as the Marines started firing down at them.

"They're falling for it, let's go!" Will said, before taking off. The rest of the squad quickly followed him.

"About time", Shawn said, only to receive another slap round the head "Ow! Would you quit that?"

"Only when you start acting like an adult", Faye said, smirking at him.

**Hope you guys/gals enjoyed that, more updates on the way. Please review, and follow and favourite if you enjoyed it.**


	8. Storming the building

**Another update for you wonderful people. It's all I can do to thank for the amount of support you have given me.**

**Please do enjoy.**

**Chapter 8**

**London, UK, Earth**

**November 14****th**** 2552. 10:25 hours.**

The small squad had successfully made their way around the block without being spotted, and were now on the opposite side of the building. With no Covenant troops in sight they quickly ran across the open ground, stacking up next to the door.

"There'll probably be Covenant troops in the building. Shawn, you have the shotgun so you go in first. Natasha and I will be right behind you, covering your flanks and providing medium range support. Faye, you stay at the back and cover our rear. Everyone good with that plan?" Will asked. The team nodded in confirmation, "Right Shawn, you're up."

"It's about time!" he shouted, before kicking the door down and entering the building. The rest of the squad quickly followed him.

"Stay quiet, we want to remain undetected for as long as possible", Will whispered, as the squad scanned the building for any signs of life.

The building had lost its power sometime ago, meaning the inside was only lit by a few rays of sunlight entering from the windows. The squad moved through the first floor, encountering no resistance, and quickly found the stairwell.

"This should take us straight to the top floor", Will whispered. They quickly ascended the stairs, going up several floors without finding any Covenant troops.

"Are we sure this is the right building? This is almost too easy", Shawn joked.

"Maybe they all went outside when Foley and the Marines started firing", Natasha suggested. Will was about reply when he saw something through one of the windows. An out of control Banshee heading right towards them.

"Get down!" he shouted, jumping out the way as the Banshee smashed into the building, sending debris flying into the squad. It remained there for a few seconds, before gravity took over and it fell out the building, plummeting to the ground below.

"Everyone okay?" Will asked. The squad all nodded, confirming they were okay. Natasha glared at Shawn.

"Well done asshole, you jinxed us!" she said angrily, dusting herself off.

"How was I supposed to know that would happen?" Shawn asked her. She just shook her head at him.

"That doesn't matter now, look!" Faye 'Sumee said, pointing to the stair well above them, which had been destroyed on several floors. Shawn sighed in annoyance.

"So much for too easy", he moaned, receiving another slap on the head from Faye, "Ow! Stop that already!" Natasha ignored his moaning and turned to Will.

"Is there another way up?" she asked him. Will pulled the map out from his rucksack, looking closely at it.

"There is another stairwell on the other side of this building. We'd have to go through several rooms to reach it though", he explained. Shawn moaned again.

"You mean through the powerless rooms that will be almost pitch black? That sounds like a good plan", he said sarcastically.

"We have night vision in our helmets idiot", Will replied, before turning it on. Shawn mumbled something along the lines of 'asshole' before turning his on. Faye and Natasha didn't have night vision, so they had to use their flashlights instead. "You first, since you're so eager", Will said to Shawn, grinning underneath his helmet.

"Asshole", he mumbled, before entering the first room, quickly followed by the rest of the squad. The first room was clear, much to Shawn's relief. As he was about open the second door, Will pulled him back. "What?" Shawn asked, still annoyed at his friend.

"Covenant", Will said, pointing to the gap between the door and the floor, where a purple light could be seen seeping through it. Shawn sighed, smiling at his friend.

"Thanks", he said, "I would have been goner if you hadn't stopped me."

"Anytime", Will replied, bro fisting him.

"They would have heard the gunfire and the Banshee crash, so they should be expecting us", Faye said as the squad stacked themselves up against the wall.

"What do you suggest?" Will asked her.

"They do not have night vision like you do. I suggest taking out any lights they have, then they will be blind and we can pick them of one by one", she suggested.

"Good plan. Okay we'll go with that, but you two will need to turn your flashlights off", he said to Faye and Natasha.

"What?! But then we won't be able to see anything!" Natasha protested.

"Think about it, if we have our flashlights on, the Covenant will know where we are. We need to remain hidden if we are going to beat them", Faye replied, turning her flashlight off.

"Just stay with me, I'll make sure you don't get lost", Shawn said to her. She sighed, before also turning her flashlight off, plunging the room into darkness.

Both ODST's prepped a grenade, while Faye pulled out her Covenant Carbine, stepping back a few paces so she could get a better shot.

"Natasha, on the count of three, I want you to kick that door down", Will said. She nodded, moving next to the door.

"One..." Faye 'Sumee aimed down her sights, preparing to take out the light.

"...Two..." Both ODST's pulled the pins on their grenades.

"...Three!" Natasha kicked the door down, before quickly jumping back into cover. The Covenant troops turned to fire upon whoever had kicked down the door, but where instead met by two grenades which exploded seconds later, killing several of them. With the Covenant troops now distracted, Faye fired her Carbine several times, destroying the light and plunging the Covenant into darkness. Confused, they started firing erratically, trying to hit their unknown enemies.

With the lights now out, Will and Shawn quickly entered the room, sliding into cover behind an upturned sofa. They fired into the darkness with their weapons, giving Faye and Natasha the chance to enter.

"I can't see a thing!" Natasha shouted over the gunfire.

"Just shoot when you see a muzzle flash!" Faye shouted, firing her Carbine in the direction of one of the flashes, killing a Grunt.

Unlike the other two, Will and Shawn were having no problem finding targets thanks to their night vision. Will fired his M7S into a group of Grunts, cutting them down, as Shawn flanked the Covenant troops. He shot a Brute at point blank range, killing it instantly.

"This might help!" Faye shouted, before throwing a plasma grenade into the darkness. It exploded, only killing one Jackal, but illuminating the entire room for a split second, allowing her and Natasha to know where the enemies were. They fired their guns into those areas, and that, combined with the ODST's firing, finished off the last remaining Covenant troops.

"Clear!" Will shouted, pulling himself out of cover. The two girls turned on their flashlights again, surveying the room before them. It was littered with dead Covenant troops, and the walls were splattered with their blood.

"I say that went pretty well, all things considered", Shawn said, grimacing as he wiped some grunt blood of his armour, "Though I think the owners might have to do a little redecorating, along with my armour."

"Let's keep moving, the Covenant will know we're here now and I don't want to wait for more of them to arrive", Will said, making his way out of the room, the squad not far behind.

They quickly reached the second stair well and started to ascend the building again. They encountered a few Grunts on the way up, but they were no match for the squad, who made short work of them. After a few minutes they reached the final flight of stairs, the door to the roof now in their sights.

"What's the plan this time?" Shawn asked.

"There'll be quite a few of them out there, and since the interference tower is important to them, I think it's safe to assume there will be mostly Brutes out there . They'll be expecting us, so there is no point in stealth", he explained, drawing his Katana at the same time. The rest of the squad quickly followed him, drawing their close quarter weapons as well.

"Well no point in keeping them waiting", Shawn said before smashing the door down. The rest of the squad quickly followed, but were surprised to find only four Brutes on the roof. The Brutes noticed them, and drew their close quarter weapons.

"Well this is a surprise", Will said as the Brutes started to approach them, "One on one combat it is then."

"Alright guys, have fun. We'll meet back here in 5 minutes", Shawn joked. He probably would have received another slap around the head if it weren't for the Brutes slowly approaching them.

"Here they come!" Will shouted as the Brutes broke into a charge, running straight at them.

**I hope you guy enjoyed that, more updates are on the way!**


	9. Dancing on the roof

**Hey there guys, another update for you wonderful people. **

**Given the structure of this chapter, I feel it is important that I explain how it works. There are 4 fights, all of which are happening at the same time, however I described them one after the other so as not to confuse you. There will be line breakers when the chapter moves on to a different fight. If you are still confused, feel free to pm me.**

**Anyway, please enjoy.**

**Chapter 9**

**London, UK, Earth**

**November 14****th**** 2552. 12:17 hours**

The first Brute came at Natasha with its combat knife. It lunged at her, but she quickly side stepped, drawing her own combat knife as she did so. She swung the knife high, trying to bring it down on the Brute's head, but it blocked the attack with its own knife, before punching her in the abdomen. She staggered back a bit, having had the wind taken out of her. She had little time to recover though as the Brute came at her again, trying to cut her throat. She side stepped again, but not quickly enough. The Brutes knife sliced through the fabric of her uniform, cutting her left arm. She backed off a bit, holding her hand over the wound. Luckily, it wasn't deep enough to have caused any major damage.

"You're gonna pay for that asshole", she told the Brute, before charging at it.

* * *

Shawn ran up to the second Brute, dodging the shots fired from its Plasma pistol. He quickly arrived in front of the Brute, kicking the pistol out of its hand, before bringing his shotgun up to shot at it. The Brute had other ideas however, grabbing the shotgun and pulling it out of Shawn's hands. It then smashed it down on his head, breaking it in two. Shawn stumbled back, holding his head. If it hadn't of been for his helmet, he would probably of been dead. However, that was not what he was worried about.

"That was my favourite shotgun! Now you've made me angry! " he shouted, charging the Brute.

* * *

Faye quickly rolled out the way as the third Brute fired its grenade launcher, dodging the shots easily, before firing her Needler at it. Several shots hit it, but this only maddened the Brute, who fired its last two shots at Faye. She sidestepped, and the two shots flew past her, exploding a few feet away. The Brute roared in anger before it started to approach her, intend on using the blade on its grenade launcher to attack her. Faye jumped back, drawing her energy dagger. The Brute laughed when it saw her small blade. She smirked.

"At least I'm not using my blade size to compensate for something", she taunted. The Brute charged at her, but she quickly side stepped, punching it in the face as it passed her, "You'll have to do better than that." The Brute roared, coming at her again.

* * *

Will stood in front of the Brute Chieftain, gripping the Katana tightly in his hand. The Brute drew an energy sword, powering it up in its hand.

"An energy sword. I suppose you murdered the previous owner in his sleep like the coward you are to get that", Will taunted. But instead of angering the Brute, it just laughed at him.

"Taunt all you want human, it doesn't change the fact that you will not be leaving this roof alive", it said. Will smirked.

"We'll see about that", he replied. The Brute began to walk towards him, raising its sword in the air. Will took a deep breath, before drawing his Energy Katana back, preparing for the attack.

Will raised his Katana as the Brute swung its sword at him, blocking it in midair. The Brute was stronger than Will and pushed down on the sword, forcing Will back.

Not wanting to be outdone, Will pushed back with all his might, managing to push the Brute off him. He tried to stab the Brute, but it grabbed his wrist mid-stab, twisting his arm backwards. The Brute then thrust its energy blade forward, expecting to impale the ODST before him. It was therefore surprised when Will grabbed it wrist, stopping the sword just short of his chest. The Brute shook off the shock, before laughing.

"This is the end for you human", he said. Will responded by head butting the Brute. It roared in pain, staggering back slightly. Will took this chance to pull himself out of the Brutes grip, before stepping back quickly.

'_Damn it!'_ Will thought as he realised he had cracked his visor. He had no choice but to remove his helmet, throwing to the floor. Surprisingly, the Brute did the same thing, despite not having any major damage on its helmet.

"At least some of you know what honour is", Will said, grasping his Katana with both hands.

"Do not judge my species by actions of a few individuals, we are all just as different as you are. Now enough talking, it's time for you to die", the Brute said, approaching Will again.

* * *

Natasha quickly dodged as the Brute swung its blade again, missing her by an inch. She tried to launch her own attack, but the Brute blocked her blade once again. She used her free hand to punch it several times in the face, knocking out several of its teeth and breaking its nose. It roared in pain and responded with a punch of its own. It connected with the side of her face, sending her sprawling to the ground.

She panicked when she realised her knife was no longer in her hand, but instead several feet in front of her. She started crawling as quickly as she could, attempting to reach it before the Brute could fully recover. Unfortunately for her though, the Brute had recovered much faster than she had expected and put one of its feet on her back, stopping her with mere inches between her hand and the knife. It began to apply pressure to her back, causing her to cry out in pain. She was in trouble and needed a plan. Luckily, one quickly came to mind.

She brought her left knee up, smashing it into the Brutes supporting leg. The combined pain and surprise from the attack caused the Brute to slip and fall to the ground. Now free, she quickly grabbed her knife, before turning around and stabbing it into the Brute's throat. The Brute made a few choking sounds before it died, a surprised look permanently etched on its face.

* * *

'_Perhaps charging the Brute wasn't the best idea'_, Shawn thought as the Brute punched him in the stomach for the third time in a row. He quickly backed away, trying to catch his breath, but the Brute wouldn't allow that, coming at him again. Shawn tried to fight back, getting several good punches on its head and chest, but it didn't slow down the Brute down.

The Brute delivered its own punch to Shawn's chest, sending him staggering back to the roofs edge. There was a wall around the roofs edge, but it was small enough for it to still be easy to push somebody off. Or some Brute. Shawn grinned as an idea popped into his head.

"Hey ugly, are you going to come and get me, or did you forget how to walk again!" he taunted. The brute roared in anger, charging the ODST before him. At the very last second, Shawn jumped out of the way of the incoming charge. The Brute suddenly realised what the human was doing and skidded to a halt, stopping right at the very edge of the roof. It breathed a sigh of relief, before turning back to see Shawn standing behind it.

"Hey ugly, guess what? THIS, IS, SPARTA!" he shouted before kicking the Brute off the roof. He watched as the Brute fell to the ground. "Bon voyage!" he said, waving at it.

* * *

'_Damn it!'_ Faye thought as she blocked another attack from the Brute, forcing her backwards. She was stronger than the Brute, but due to the size of her dagger she could not apply as much force as the Brute could with its blade.

She blocked another attack as the Brute attempted to cut off her head, but this left her open to another attack, which the Brute took, punching her hard in the mandibles. She staggered back, spitting some blood out of her mouth, growling angrily. The Brute gave her little time to recover as it came at her again, swinging its blade at her chest. She quickly bent backwards, barely avoiding the sharp metal as it passed over her. However, she noticed that in the Brutes attempt to kill her, it had over-extended itself, giving her the perfect opening.

She righted herself, stabbing her energy blade into the Brutes arm. It roared out in pain, dropping the grenade launcher by accident. She pulled her blade out, before punching it in the chest. It staggered back slightly, holding its chest. With the Brute now distracted, she lunged forward, stabbing it in the abdomen, twisting the dagger inside it. The Brute howled in pain and fell to its knees, placing its hands over the wound. Faye quickly moved behind the Brute, wrapping her arms around its neck. She then twisted it with all her might, breaking the Brute's neck. She watched the dead body fall to the ground, smirking. She did enjoy killing Brutes.

* * *

'_Damn this guy is skilled!'_ Will thought as he blocked another attack from the Brute Chieftain. The Brute had been slowly pushing him back, and he was now running out of room. He tried an attack of his own, but the Brute easily parried. It responded with a heavy punch to Will's stomach, before kneeing the ODST in the face. He fell to the ground, coughing up blood as he did so. The Brute went to stab him, but he rolled out of the way, before kicking the Brute in the face. Again, the Brute merely laughed his futile attempts to hurt it, before grabbing him by the neck and lifting him up. It smirked as Will tried desperately to escape its grip.

"Now you die human", it said, beginning to tighten its grip on Wills throat.

"Not today you son of a bitch!" Shawn shouted, tackling the Brute, who lost its grip on Will. He fell to the ground, coughing heavily.

The Brute roared in anger, knocking Shawn to the ground. It attempted to stab Shawn with its energy blade, but Faye slide in, blocking its attack with her energy dagger. She then punched the Brute in the head, causing it to back up a bit. She attempted another punch, but the Brute easily blocked it, before delivering its own punch to her face. Natasha was the last to arrive, quickly coming up behind the Brute, and stabbing it in the ribs. The Brute growled angrily, elbowing Natasha in the face. She staggered back, unable to recover in time as the Brute kicked her in the chest, knocking her onto the ground.

Will had been watching the whole time and had gotten very angry. How dare it try to kill his friends. Will charged the Brute again, launching attack after attack at it. The Brute was surprised by the human's sudden aggressiveness and was forced to go on the defensive.

The Brute blocked Will's Katana again, but was unable to block his fist, which connected with its face several times. As it stumbled backwards, Will extended one of his legs, tripping the Brute over. The Brute rolled over, but was unable to recover in time as Will spun the Katana around in his hand before stabbing it through its chest, killing it instantly.

The squad stayed remained silent for a few seconds, recovering from their respective fights. Shawn was the first to break the silence.

"That...was...awesome!" he shouted.

"If...I had...the energy to...you would so be...receiving a slap...right now", Faye said through heavy breaths. Will was the first one to pull himself up, sheathing his Katana.

"Well, now that's done, I suggest we deal with the tower", he said, helping the rest of his squad up.

**I hope that wasn't to confusing for you guys, and I hope you enjoyed. Be sure to review, and follow and favourite if you want to. More updates are on the way.**


	10. Sacrifices and new feelings

**Hey there guys, here's another chapter for you wonderful people. The longest one yet, in fact.**

**This is coming out a bit later than expected because it took so long to work on. This is a really important chapter and I wanted to make sure it was as good as I could make it.**

**Anyway, please enjoy.**

**Chapter 10**

**London, UK, Earth**

**November 14****th**** 2552. 13:37 hours**

"So, tell me again why you guys have so many explosives?" Natasha asked, as Will and Shawn placed several of them on the tower's supports.

"We need them to blow up ONI headquarters if we can't hold it, or if the Covenant have already captured it. It has a lot of valuable information which we can't allow to fall into their hands", he explained, placing the final explosive on the tower, before backing up. The squad quickly followed him, falling back to a safe distance.

"Oh oh, can I blow it up? Please please please?" Shawn begged him. Will sighed, shaking his head, before handing him the detonator. "Yes! Okay, let's think now, what's a good one-liner?" he asked, thinking very hard about it. Faye growled at him.

"Destroy the tower already you idiot, the Marines are waiting for us!" she shouted at him, clearly annoyed.

"Okay okay, I've got one anyway. Hey tower, looks like you just got-"his finger accidentally slipped, setting off the explosives. The towers supports were destroyed and the tower came crashing down onto the roof, breaking into several pieces. The squad seemed happy at this sight, except for Shawn. "Damn it, I missed my one liner!" he shouted, throwing the detonator to the floor in anger. Will grinned at his friends moaning, before turning his radio on.

"Foley, we destroyed the tower, are you still there?" he asked. There was a few seconds of silence, before Foley replied.

"Will, it sure is good to hear you again. I suppose that means the tower is down", he replied. Will could still hear the gunfire through the radio.

"It is, how are you guys holding out down there?" he asked, looking down at the street below him. He could see the Covenant were still firing at the building the Marines were in, but he couldn't see the Marines themselves.

"Pretty well all things considered. We have a couple injured, but nothing too serious", Foley told him.

"Well get out of there now, we'll meet you back at the rendezvous point", Will ordered.

"Okay, just give us a-"

"Sir get down!" Will heard through the radio, followed by an explosion. He looked down to see a blue flame rising from a part of the building.

"Foley, are you okay?!" he asked. He heard some coughing, before Foley finally replied.

"I'm still here. Something hit us pretty hard though!" he said.

"Holy shit! Will, I think you should see this!" Natasha shouted, pointing further down the road. He felt fear and dread build up inside him when he saw what she had seen.

A large Covenant group was moving down the street towards them. They had well over 100 troops, along with 10 Ghosts and 3 Wraiths, and they were closing in on the Marines fast. Will quickly turned his attention back to his radio.

"Foley, you have to get out of there now!" Will shouted, "There is a large Covenant force heading your way!"

"We can't, we're pinned down! It's too dangerous for us to move!" Foley shouted in reply.

"Damn it!" Will said, before turning to Natasha, "See if you can get me any air support!" She nodded, turning on her radio.

"This is Private Natasha Williams requesting air support! Does anyone copy, over?" she asked.

"We read you loud and clear, this Garuda 2-5. We have two Shortswords available for tasking", one of the Shortsword pilots said through the radio. Natasha sighed in relief.

"We need a bombing run on a large enemy group! It will be danger close and our targets will be marked!" she told him.

"Roger that, time on target, 2 minutes" the pilot replied. Natasha turned back to Will.

"Will! There are two Shortswords coming in for a bombing run in 2 minutes!" she told him. He nodded in reply, before turning back to his radio.

"Foley, there is bombing run incoming! You need to get out of that building before it arrives!" he said. His squad would be safe from the initial blast because they were over ten stories up, but Foley and his men wouldn't be so lucky if they stayed where they were.

"We can't! Every time we try to make a move, the Covenant are there shooting at us! We would be killed if we tried to move now!" he shouted back.

"You'll be killed if you stay there!" Will argued. The rest of the squad just looked on, helpless to stop what was happening.

"They're 1 minute away!" Natasha informed him.

"Just go! There's nothing more you can do for us!" Foley told him.

"Oh no, I am not leaving you guys to die. I promised I would get you guys out alive and that is what I'm going to do!" Will shouted.

"30 seconds!" Natasha said. Will turned to the look the other direction, and saw that the two Shortswords had breached the cloud layer, and were now heading towards them. He quickly turned back to Natasha.

"Call them off damn it!" he shouted. She jumped, startled by just how loud his voice was, but quickly recovered.

"Garuda 2-5, abort bombing run!" she shouted at the pilots through her radio.

"Negative, we have already begun our attack run, we cannot disengage", one the pilots told her. She silently cursed before turning back to Will.

"I'm sorry", was all she said to him. Will turned back to his radio, almost panicking at this point.

"Foley please, get out of there while you still can!" he begged.

"Will, it has been an honour to serve with you", Foley replied. The Broadswords were mere seconds away now, and the rest of the squad was starting to get worried.

"Will, perhaps it would be wise to step away from the edge", Shawn said. They may have been safe from the explosion up here, but there was still a chance they could get hit by flying debris.

Will ignored him, "No, don't do this, please!" he said.

"Will, step away from the edge now!" Faye shouted at him. He didn't listen.

"Promise me something", Foley said.

"W-what?" Will asked him, his voice breaking as he tried to suppress the tears that were welling up in his eyes.

"Don't blame yourself for this son", he said just as the Shortswords arrived.

"Foley no!" he shouted as they dropped their bombs on the street below. He felt arms wrap around him as Faye grabbed him, pulling him away from the edge. The resulting explosions rocked the building, knocking the squad off their feet. It was lucky Faye had grabbed Will when she did, as a Ghost was sent flying from the explosion, smashing into the building mere seconds after Will had been there.

Will was the first to recover, running back to the edge of the roof and looking down at the street below. He couldn't see anything due to the flames and rising smoke, which blocked his view. He silently cursed before turning to his radio.

"Foley are you there? Answer damn it!" he shouted. He received no reply. Faye came up to him, putting a hand on his shoulder.

"Will, I'm so sorry, but-"

"No, he's not dead!" he shouted at her, before quickly leaving the roof.

* * *

The squad followed Will as he quickly made his way down the stair well. At one point they met a lone Brute who had somehow survived the explosion, but Will was in no mood for a fight and kicked it out of the window.

Once out of the building, they quickly made their way across the street, which was littered with burnt out Covenant vehicles, towards the building the Marines had been in.

The entire front of the building had been destroyed in the explosion, and it took the squad a little while to find a way in. When they did Will searched the building for any signs of life, but found none. Unfortunately, Faye did find something. Something metal.

"Maybe they got out" he said, holding on any bit of hope he still could. Faye sighed, holding out one of her hands, which held the metal object she had found. Dog tags. "T-they could be anyone's dog tags!" he argued. She shook her head, smiling sadly at him.

"Read them", she said, putting the dog tags in his hands. He looked at the dog tags in his hand, before very slowly bringing them closer to his face so he could read them.

_UNSC Marine Corps_

_Sergeant A. Foley_

Will turned away from the squad, shutting his eyes tightly as he felt tears welling up in his eyes.

"Will, are you okay?" Shawn asked, concerned with his friends silence. Will turned back to look at them, his face completely devoid of emotion.

"No."

* * *

**Several hours later**

The squad remained relatively quiet for the rest of the day, especially around Will, who they knew was tearing himself apart inside. They had tried to ask him if he had been alright once or twice, but they had only received silence in reply.

They had spent the last few hours travelling east, towards ONI headquarters. Loses or not, they still had a mission to do.

They had made camp several floors up in a nearby block of flats. Will had long since gone to his room, leaving the rest of the squad to sit around the main fire.

"Maybe someone should go and see how he is", Natasha suggested. Shawn snorted, crossing his arms.

"And say what? You saw how he was, he is definitely in no mood to talk", he said.

"So you're just going to let your friend destroy himself because you don't know what to say?" she asked him, annoyed at his response.

"I do want to help him, I really do, but I don't think it would make it any better", he argued. Natasha sighed, leaning back against the wall.

"I just feel so sorry for him, he's been through so much over the past two days, and he blames it all on himself", she said. Shawn nodded.

"He's strong, but I've never seen him this bad before. I just don't know what to do", he said. Faye, who had been quiet up until now, decided to speak up.

"Isn't it obvious what we should be doing? Talking to him" she said.

"Weren't you listening to anything we just said?! He won't listen to us, how is talking to him going to do anything?" Shawn asked. Faye snorted, shaking her head.

"And you call yourself his friend?" she asked. Shawn stood up and walked over to her, an angry expression on his face.

"What the hell is that suppose to mean?!" he asked her, getting right up in her face.

"If you were truly his friend you would be helping him instead of sitting here and moaning about it", she said, pushing him back. He growled at her.

"You talk about it as if it so easy, but tell me, how long have you known him? A day, two maybe? I've known him for years, and I have never seen him like this, so don't for a second say I am not his friend", he said angrily, before turning away from her.

"A good friend would have still helped him", she replied. Shawn turned round quickly, clenching his fists.

"Then why don't you do it if you think it is so fucking easy!?" he shouted at her. She stood there for a few second, before finally replying.

"Fine then, I will, because I actually care about him unlike you two", she said, before leaving to go find Will's room. Shawn just stood there, amazed. He hadn't expected her to actually do it.

"I...I'm not a bad friend, am I?" he asked Natasha. Natasha shook her.

"No, of course not," she said, "And in my opinion, Faye is probably the best person to help Will."

"Why do you say that?" Shawn asked.

"Because she's stubborn. She's not just gonna let Will push her away", she explained. Shawn chuckled slightly.

"Yer, I suppose she is", he said, smiling slightly, "Besides, he probably isn't in the right mood to be hearing some of my new jokes. I guess I could just tell them to you instead." Natasha's expression turned to one of horror.

"Oh god."

* * *

Faye knocked on Will's room, taking a deep breath as she did so. She knew that one wrong word could spell disaster.

'_What was I thinking? I'm not even human, how am I supposed to help'_, she thought, before shaking her head. No, she wouldn't think like that. That's exactly how his so called friends had thought, and she was better than them.

It had been over ten seconds since she had knocked, and she had yet to receive a reply. She shrugged to herself, before opening the door and entering.

The room was mostly dark, only illuminated by a small fire near the center of it. In front of that fire sat Will, his back turned to the door. Faye was unsure whether he had heard her enter, as he had yet to move.

"Will, are you okay?" she asked, slowly approaching him.

"I didn't say you could enter", he replied, his voice devoid of any emotion. She walked up to him, looking at his face as he stared into the fire. Like his voice, his face was devoid of emotion too, although it was obvious he had been crying early due to the moisture on his checks and how red his eyes were.

She chuckled, half of nervousness, and half in response to his reply. "You should know I'm too stubborn to go away", she joked. His facial expression didn't change.

"Why are you here?" he asked, turning to her. She cringed slightly at just emotionless his voice was.

"I came to see how you were", she said, sitting down next to him. He turned back to the fire, staring at it once more.

"I'm fine", he said.

"No you're not, you-"

"I'm fine, now leave", he said angrily, interrupting her.

"No", she said defiantly.

"Why not!?" he asked, his voice slowly rising in volume.

"Because you need someone to help you get through this", she said softly. Will quickly stood up.

"Help?! You can't help me, I'm a lost cause! In the past two days, I've gotten over ten people killed! Ten people, all because of me! Because I led them into an obvious trap! Because I made risky decisions which didn't pay off! Because I wasn't quick enough! I promised them they would be okay! I promised them I would come back. And now, now they're all dead! Dead, because of my incompetence!" he shouted, before breaking down. Faye went over to Will, pulling him into a hug. He accepted the hug, crying into her shoulder, not caring about how cold or rough her armour felt against his face.

"It's not your fault, none of it's your fault", she told him quietly.

"H-how can you say that? I was meant to lead them!" he said, still crying. Faye smiled at him.

"And you did a great job at it! It's not your fault they are dead, it was because of events you could have never seen coming", she told him. He stopped crying, calming down a bit.

"B-but I-"

"And don't you remember? Foley told you not to blame yourself", she said, wiping some leftover tears from his check, "You see, no one blames you for what happened."

"I-I just don't want to be responsible for the anyone's death, especially my friends", he said, looking down at the ground. Faye placed a hand under his chin, lifting his head up so he was looking at her again.

"You won't be, because none of us are going to die", she told him, "And do know why?"

"Why?" he asked, rubbing his eyes a bit. She smiled at him.

"Because we have a brilliant leader, who cares about all of us. And who I trust with my life", she said. For the first time tonight, he smiled back at her, before pulling her into an embrace.

"Thank you", he said, before wiping his face, laughing slightly, "I'm sorry, I must look like an idiot right now." Faye shook her head.

"No, you don't. It's a completely understandable reaction", she said.

"Thank you, you've really helped me", he said, smiling at her, before releasing her from his embrace. She smiled back at him.

"Anytime. So, are you ready to lead us tomorrow sir?" she said, grinning at him. He laughed.

"I am, thanks to you", he said. She blushed at his remark.

"I-it's getting pretty late" she said, still blushing quite badly, "I-I should probably go." She turned and started to make her way over to the door.

"Wait!" Will called out. She turned back to him, as he came towards her.

"Yes?" she asked him. He stood in front of her for a second, blushing just as badly as her. His mouth moved as if he was saying something, but nothing came out.

After a few seconds he seemed to calm a bit, before leaning forward and kissing her lightly on the cheek. If Faye hadn't been blushing before, she certainly was now.

"I really mean it, thank you", he said quietly, still blushing like mad. Faye quickly recovered from her shock, nodding at him.

"Y-your welcome", she said, smiling at him, before quickly exiting the room. As soon as she had left the room, Will face palmed.

'_Why did you kiss her you idiot?' _he thought to himself. He really didn't know why he had kissed her. At the time he had thought it was because he had wanted to thank her, but now that only seemed partially true.

He replayed the events of the last ten minutes in his head, remembering everything he could. Every action he took, every sentence he spoke, and everything he had felt at the time.

After a few minutes, he came to a shocking discovery. He was falling for her, and there was no way he could deny it.

**I hope you guys enjoyed that, more updates will be on the way.**


	11. That damn Scarab

**Well this chapter took me forever to finish. It was kind of hard because I was struggling to think how to connect my story together, but I got there in the end.**

**Just to clarify, there will be a sex scene later on in this fanfic. I know I said I might not do it, but I've decided it's a better idea to do anyway. Besides, that's what you guys are all here for right, a bit of interspecies banging? *nervous laugh***

**Anyway, I hope you enjoy this chapter.**

**P.s. Let it be known that I messed the dates up. The battle of Earth ended on November 17th. I have changed the dates accordingly, and I apologize for this mistake. **

**Chapter 11**

**London, UK, Earth**

**November 15****th**** 2552. 10:34 hours**

It was another cold, overcast morning as the squad prepared for yet another day of combat, including Will, who was a lot happier than he had been yesterday. Shawn rubbed the back of his head, smiling sheepishly at him.

"I'm sorry about yesterday, I should have tried to help", he said. Will chuckled, shaking his head at him.

"It's fine, I forgive you. Besides, I wasn't really in the mood for any of your bad jokes", he replied. Shawn pouted, crossing his arms.

"My jokes aren't bad", he said. Will raised an eyebrow at him, "Okay, maybe a few of them are."

As they talked, Faye quietly slipped into the room. When she saw Will she blushed slightly, remembering what had happened last night. The kiss he had given her had certainly taken her by surprise. But it wasn't a bad surprise if she was being honest; she had even enjoyed it slightly.

'_What am I thinking? He is my friend, nothing more'_, she told herself. Besides, he kissed her because he had been grateful of her help, nothing more, right? She couldn't think about that right now anyway, she had a mission to do.

"Squad, gather round", Will said. The squad quickly gathered around him as he brought out a map, pointing at it, "Right now we're several miles from ONI headquarters. If we move quickly, we can be there by tomorrow."

"What about the rest of our squad? Have you been able to get in contact with them yet?" Shawn asked. Will shook his head.

"Not yet. Maybe they're radios are damaged or maybe they haven't got them turned on, but they're out there somewhere", he said, before turning to Faye, "I assume it's the same for your lance."

She nodded, "The Covenant may still be able to intercept our radio signals, so they will most likely be maintaining radio silence", she told him. He nodded before returning to the map.

"Right, we'll take the most straight forward route to ONI. Hopefully we'll meet up with some of our squad members on the way", he told them. They all nodded, happy with the plan.

'_No one is going to die today'_, Will promised himself, slipping on his newly repaired helmet.

* * *

The squad quickly made their way down a long street, heading eastwards towards ONI headquarters. It was exposed, but Will was confident they would be fine. Besides, this area was still being fought over, and the Covenant would most likely be preoccupied by the rest of the UNSC. Several Broadsword fighters flew overhead, engaging their Covenant counterparts in a dogfight.

"Well at least they're putting on a show for us", Shawn joked. A Broadsword fired a missile, hitting an enemy Seraph. It span out of control, smashing into a building down the road, causing the squad to jump slightly. Despite their confidence, the squad was still on high alert. They didn't want to get caught out by any Covenant troops again.

"Perhaps we should get out of the open before we get hit by one of those fighters", Natasha suggested.

"Good idea", Will praised her. The squad quickly moved to the side of the street, using a nearby building for cover. They came up on a junction, and were about to cross it when several Marines came running down the road on their right. Will was about to call out to them, but they were quickly cut down by Covenant fire. Will carefully peeked round the corner to see what had killed them. A Scarab.

"Get in the building now!" he ordered, jumping through one of the windows. The squad quickly followed him. Once inside, they pushed themselves up against the wall, trying to hide from the Scarab.

The Scarab slowly moved past the building, shaking the ground with every step it took. They stayed as still and as quiet as possible, as several Grunts and Brutes passed by the windows. When the Scarab and the group of Covenant troops had finally left, the squad breathed a sigh of relief, picking themselves up.

"Well at least we know where the Scarab is now", Shawn said. Faye frowned.

"Yes, and it's going to become a problem unless we deal with it", she said. Will nodded.

"Agreed, but we don't have any way of dealing with it yet. I say we avoid it until we reach ONI headquarters, or we find an effective way of dealing with it", he suggested. The squad nodded in agreement, "Right, let's keep moving then."

Will opened one of the doors, peeking out to make sure the Scarab had gone. Happy that the coast was now clear, the squad moved across the street, continuing their journey towards ONI.

* * *

"God, this is taking forever!" Shawn moaned. Most of the squad rolled the eyes, except for Faye, who slapped him on the head again, "Ow! Stop that!"

"I'll stop hitting you when you start acting like a mature adult", she replied, grinning at him. He turned away from her, muttering something under his breath.

"You have to agree with him though, it's taking a lot longer than expected" Natasha said. Will nodded in agreement. If only there was something they could use to speed up their journey. Will face palmed as he realised how much of an idiot he had been. The answer was all around them.

"I've got it! We could use one of the abandoned cars to get us there", he said, running up to one of them. He opened the door and slipped inside.

"Are you sure it's a good idea to be driving a civilian vehicle in the middle of a warzone?" Faye asked. Will grinned at her, trying to hotwire the car at the same time.

"I think it's a better idea than just walking there", he replied, fiddling with some wires. A few seconds later, the car burst into life. Shawn ran up to Will, jumping up and down.

"Oh! Let me drive! Please, please, please!" he begged. Will sighed, before getting out the driver's seat.

"Fine, but if you get us killed I'm gonna kill you", he said to Shawn. Shawn cheered before jumping in the car. Faye and Natasha just stared at Will.

"You let him drive?!" Natasha asked, clearly shocked at his decision. Will shrugged.

"If I didn't he would moan about it the whole way there", he reasoned. The girls nodded, excepting his logic. Shawn beeped the car horn several times.

"Hurry up already!" he shouted at them. They rolled their eyes before quickly getting in the car. Natasha sat on the passenger seat, and Will and Faye sat on the back seats. It was a tight fit, especially for Faye who had to bend down slightly to avoid hitting the roof.

Shawn turned back to them, grinning. "Now no kissing back there you two", he joked. Will just stared at him, while Faye drew her energy dagger.

"Shut up and drive!" she shouted. Shawn chuckled nervously.

"Okay okay, I'm going" he said, before slamming his foot down on the pedal, sending them flying forwards.

"God damn it Shawn, slow down!" Will shouted. Shawn laughed.

"No way, this is just too much fun!" he said as he raced down the street, weaving in between cars. He came up to a turn and quickly applied the brakes, sliding round the corner. Will was thrown of his seat by the sudden turn, and landed on top of Faye. Both started blushing furiously when they realised just how intimate the position was. Shawn looked back at them, grinning.

"I said no kissing", he teased. Will quickly pulled himself off Faye, who growled at Shawn.

"Count yourself lucky that you are the one driving the car, otherwise I would have already kicked you out of it", she said darkly. Natasha put her hand over her mouth.

"I think I'm gonna hurl!" she said.

"Hey, not in my car! Open the window", he said, looking at her. He looked back at the road just in time to see a Scarab leg land a few metres in front of the car. "Oh shit!" he shouted, slamming his foot down on the brakes. He barely managed to stop the car in time, the front of it only a few centimetres away from the leg. Will turned to see a large Covenant group behind the Scarab, all staring at them.

"Shawn, get us out of here now!" he shouted. Shawn quickly complied, reversing the car as fast as he could. The Scarab turned, firing its weapons at the car.

"Down that street now!" Natasha shouted, pointing at a street to the right of them. Shawn quickly applied the brakes, turning the car to face the street, before slamming his foot down on the pedal again. The Scarab fired its main gun, which barely missed the car as it drove off down the other street. Will breathed a sigh of relief.

"That was too close", he said. Faye tapped his shoulder, looking backwards.

"It's not over yet", she said. Will looked back to see a Brute chopper and three Ghosts were following them. And they were gaining fast. He turned back to Shawn.

"Shawn, if there was ever a time when we needed you to be a good driver, it is now", he said.

"Hey, I am a good driver!" he argued. He only received stares in reply, "Fine then, I'll prove it."

Their Covenant pursuers opened fire on them, hitting the car several times. Shawn quickly turned a corner, dodging some of their shots. He then turned back to Will and Faye.

"I'd appreciate it if you fired back at them", he said. Will and Faye both nodded, before smashing their windows and leaning out them. Will drew his BR, and Faye drew her Needle rifle. They opened fire as the Covenant vehicles rounded the turn, but their weapons didn't have much of an effect on the vehicles.

"Aim for the driver!" Faye shouted, firing one of the Ghost drivers. Will quickly followed her, hitting a grunt in the head. The now driverless Ghost span out, smashing into an abandoned car. The other Covenant vehicles all swerved to avoid the crash, giving Faye an opening. She shot her Needle rifle several times, killing another Ghost driver. The Ghost collided with the last Ghost, destroying both of them.

"The Ghosts are down, just the chopper now!" Will shouted, aiming at the chopper. However, the Brute on the chopper was nearly impossible to kill, as the choppers massive wheel protected it from fire. The Brute chopper quickly caught up with the car, and was now trying to use its massive wheel to kill them.

"Drive faster!" Natasha shouted at Shawn.

"This isn't a fucking sports car you know!? I'm going as fast as I can!" he shouted back. Faye quickly pulled out a plasma grenade, priming it in her hand. She threw it, and it stuck on the choppers massive wheels. The Brute noticed this and quickly sped up, driving past them. It then jumped from its vehicle mere seconds before the grenade detonated, destroying the chopper. The Brute landed on the bonnet, drawing its Plasma rifle.

"Shoot it! Shoot it!" Shawn shouted. Natasha raised her assault rifle, firing several rounds into the Brute. It cried out in pain, before falling off and under the car. The squad sighed in relief.

"Well that went well", Will said. Unfortunately their rest was short lived as the Scarab came out of the street in front of them again. This time Shawn could not stop the car in time, and it crashed into one of the Scarab's legs.

"Reverse damn it!" Faye shouted. Shawn tried to reverse the car, but it wouldn't move.

"I can't! The engines dead!" Shawn replied. Will looked up to the Scarab turning towards them again, charging its main gun.

"Out of the car now!" he shouted. The squad quickly jumped out of the car, just seconds before the Scarab fired, completely destroying it. "Follow me!" Will shouted, before jumping into another building. The squad quickly followed him, dodging fire from the Scarabs smaller guns and the Covenant troops behind it as they did so.

"I think you spoke too soon", Shawn said once everyone had entered the building. Will was about to reply, when the Scarab fired its main gun again, destroying one of the rooms walls.

"Keep moving!" Will ordered as Covenant troops started to pour through the newly made entrance. The squad quickly ran out the room as the Covenant started firing at them. They quickly closed the door behind them, barricading it with a sofa. "That should hold them for a while, but we need to keep moving!" Will told them.

"Where do we go? They've probably surrounded the building!" Shawn said as the Covenant tried to smash open the door.

"Maybe we could make a break for the building across the road", Will suggested.

"We can't do that! The Scarab would kill us within seconds!" Natasha argued.

"Well then maybe we could-"Will was interrupted by a loud explosion outside, followed by gunshots. Shawn quickly made his way to the window, looking outside. He then turned back to the rest of the squad, grinning.

"The cavalry has arrived", he told them. The squad quickly moved to the window, trying to see what he had meant. Outside, a large group of Marines, supported by Warthogs and a Scorpion tank were engaging the Scarab and the rest of the Covenant force.

"Right, we'll use the marines as cover as we move to the next building", Will told the squad.

"Aren't we going to help them?" Natasha asked. Will shook his head, sighing slightly.

"There is no point. Even with a Scorpion tank, they still don't stand a chance against that Scarab", he told her. She sighed, begrudgingly accepting his plan. Will didn't like it either, but they had a mission to complete. Besides, they wouldn't be much help anyway. Not against a Scarab.

"Then let's go before the opportunity passes", Faye said. Will nodded, before smashing the window he was next to and jumping through it. The others quickly followed him.

Now outside, the squad started to make their way across the chaotic street as all around them, Marines, Grunts, Jackals, and Brutes fought and killed each other. The squad quickly slid behind the Scorpion as two Banshees' flew over, strafing the street below.

Once the Banshees' had gone, the squad broke cover, now half way across the street. Just few seconds after they had left, the Scorpion tank was destroyed by the Scarab. The Marines, having lost their tank, began to retreat. Will stopped just in time as a Ghost came flying past him, running over several Marines.

The squad quickly reached the building across the road, jumping through the window. They then pushed themselves against the wall. The Covenant didn't seem to notice them, and continued to pursue the retreating Marines.

They waited a few minutes, until they could no longer hear the shooting, before getting back up. Natasha sighed.

"I feel bad for letting them die like that", she said, looking down at the ground.

"There was nothing we could have done. There were too many Covenant troops, and with the Scarab there we would have had no chance", Will told her. She sighed, before looking back up at him.

"I know", she said. Shawn put an arm around her.

"Don't worry, we'll get them back", he said, grinning at her. She nodded, not seeming to mind how close he was to her. Will sat down, removing his helmet at the same time.

"We'll take a ten minute break before we set off again. Grab some food and rest a little", he said. The squad followed him, taking off their helmets and sitting down. Will pulled out a small packet of food, digging into it as he rested his back against a wall.

"I need to ask you something." Faye's voice surprised him. He hadn't noticed she was sitting quite close to him. He quickly swallowed his food, before turning to her.

"Sure, what do you want to ask?" he said. She blushed slightly.

"Why did you kiss me last night?" she asked, causing Will to blush furiously.

"I-It was because I was grateful for your help", he lied. She stared at him for a couple seconds with those beautiful yellow eyes of hers.

'_Stop staring at her eyes you idiot'_, he told himself.

"I don't believe you. A simple thank you would have been enough and you know it" she said. Will wouldn't have been surprised if his face was completely red at this point. He had also realised that in the time they had been talking she had moved closer to him. Their faces where mere inches apart, which was hardly helping him.

Will turned his head slightly to see if Shawn was looking. He wasn't, he seemed more preoccupied with trying to woo Natasha. He turned back to Faye, smiling sheepishly.

"I-I'm not very good liar, am I?" he said. He knew that he had pretty much given away the fact that he was lying, but she already knew that so there was no point in hiding it. She smirked at him.

"You're not", she said, before looking at him seriously again, "Please, tell me why you kissed me."

She almost sounded like she was pleading, which caught Will of guard. He sighed.

"Okay, but can we wait till tonight? I think it would be the best time", he said. She thought about this for a moment, before smiling at him.

"Okay, tonight then", she said, before returning to her food. He did the same. As he ate his food, he realised just what he had done, and what he would have to do tonight.

'_I am so screwed!'_

**I hope you guys enjoyed that, more updates are on the way.**


	12. Admission

**I am so sorry I took so long to update. This is a pretty major chapter and I wanted to get it right. **

**I'd like to thank Stealer-L1F3, he gave me some help with this and without him I'd probably still be stuck on it.**

**Anyway, I hope you guys enjoy.**

**Chapter 12**

**London, UK, Earth**

**November 15****th**** 2552. 14:27 hours**

With their break now complete, Will pulled out the map, opening it on a nearby table. He looked out the window, before frowning.

"That chase has really taken us off course. We've been going south instead of east", he said, rubbing his short brown hair.

"How far off course?" Natasha asked. Will sighed, leaning against the table.

"Enough to know we're not gonna reach ONI until tomorrow night at best", he said. Shawn groaned.

"So much for a car being faster", he said, "What now?" Will thought for a second, before turning back to the map.

"We keep moving east towards ONI; we'll just have to take a different route. It shouldn't be too difficult", he said. Shawn snorted.

"That's probably what you said this morning, now look where we are", he said.

"Yes, and this morning I didn't know we'd almost be crushed by a Scarab and driven around half of London by a man who doesn't understand the meaning of the word subtle", Will said, rubbing his forehead, "Now can we get back to the mission?" Shawn was about to make another comment, but stopped when Faye growled at him.

"Okay okay I'll stop, but only because your girlfriend is scaring me", he said. He quickly regretted it, as second later Faye kicked him, sending him flying into the wall. "Okay, I should of seen that one coming", he said weakly. Faye turned back to Will, blushing slightly, but with a grin of satisfaction on her face.

"Thank you Faye", Will said, blushing slightly, before turning back to the squad, "Well then, let's get going!"

* * *

The squad quickly made their way down a long street, sticking as close to cover as they could. They didn't want to take any chances when there was a Scarab on the loose. They moved in silence, scanning the area for any Covenant threats. And always, the silence was broken by Shawn.

"You know my back still hurts!" he moaned loudly. Like Will had said early, he wasn't really one for subtly. Faye grinned at him.

"If you want me to I could kick you into another wall, only this time it would be face first. That way the pain would be spread throughout your entire body", she suggested.

"No, that would hurt even more", he said. Natasha shook her head.

"How you even got into the ODST's I will never know", she said. Shawn grinned, turning around to face her.

"My superiors could not resist my charm and promoted me on the spot", he said. Will rolled his eyes.

"Yer, charm is one word for it", he said. Shawn turned to face him.

"Oh really, what's the other word for it?" he asked.

"Hunter!" Natasha shouted. Shawn turned to her, raising an eyebrow.

"That doesn't make any sense", he said. She shook her head, pointing behind him.

"No, Hunter!" she said. Shawn turned around to see a Hunter towering over him.

"Oh, a Hunter, now I get it", he said. Moments later the Hunter back handed him with its shield, sending him flying into a wall. The squad stepped back slightly, drawing their weapons. Will looked over to Shawn.

"Shawn, are you okay?!" he asked. There was a few seconds of silence, before Shawn groaned, rolling around on the floor.

"Why do I keep getting thrown into walls?" he moaned, holding his side. Will turned to Natasha, throwing her his med kit.

"Go help him, we've got this", he said. She nodded, running over to Shawn, leaving Will and Faye to face off against the Hunter.

"Any suggestions?" Will asked.

"Aim for its back, neck, or head, they are the weak spots", she said. They both raised their weapons, firing at the Hunters head, but it quickly blocked the shots with its shield. It then charged forward shield first, forcing the two of them to jump out of the way.

Will was the first to get back up, firing his M7S into the Hunters exposed back. It turned around, roaring in pain, before firing its cannon at him. He quickly rolled out the way, but he was still close enough for the resulting explosion to stagger him. The Hunter seized the opportunity, hitting Will with its shield. The force of the attack sent Will's helmet flying off his head, and he himself was sent flying through the window of a nearby building.

Faye saw this happen and roared in anger, firing her Needler into the Hunters back. It seemed unfazed by this though, and turned to face her, blocking the shots with its shield once again. She holstered her now empty Needler, drawing her Plasma pistol and energy dagger.

"I'm going to make you suffer for that", she said darkly. The Hunter responded by bashing its cannon against its shield. She smirked, before charging it.

* * *

Shawn twisted his head, trying to get a better view of the action. He couldn't, as Natasha blocked his view as she checked his wounds out.

"Would you hold still?" she asked. She put her hands on him, stopping him from moving.

"What's going on? I can't see!" he said. Natasha turned to watch the action, before turning back to him.

"Well Will's been thrown through a window, and Faye's charging the Hunter", she said, before injecting him with morphine. He turned to her with goofy grin.

"I like you, you know how to make a man happy", he said in a somewhat drugged state. Natasha couldn't help but blush at his remark.

* * *

Faye ran up to the Hunter, sliding under its shield as it was swung at her. She quickly got up, stabbing it in the abdomen, while firing her plasma pistol at its exposed neck. It roared in pain, kicking the Elite in front of it. Faye staggered back, the wind having been taken out of her by the powerful kick. She was unable to recover in time, and received a hard swing from the Hunters shield, sending her crashing to the ground. She recovered quicker this time, and rolled out the way as the Hunter brought its shield down, trying to impale her with it. She raised her hand in order to fire her Plasma pistol, but she soon realised she no longer had it. It had been knocked out of her hand, and was now several metres away.

'_Oh shit!'_ she thought as the Hunter brought its foot down upon her, trapping her underneath it. She cried out in pain, stabbing the Hunter in the foot in a desperate attempt to force it off her. Yet again, it seemed unfazed by her attack, and brought its shield above her head.

'_So this is it then'_, she thought to herself. Surprisingly, it was not fear she felt, but regret. She never even told Will how she felt. Tears began to well up in her eyes, _'I'm so sorry Will.'_

She closed her eyes, waiting for the inevitable.

...

"GET OFF HER!"

Faye opened her eyes, twisting her head to see who had just shouted. There, about ten metres away, stood Will, Katana in hand. His eyes burned with anger as he stared at the Hunter. The Hunter looked back at him, unfazed by his anger.

"I said, get off her!" he said, clenching the Katana tightly in his hands. The Hunter titled its head slightly, before ignoring him, and continuing to slowly lift slowly its shield up.

"One last chance, get off her, and I will make your death swift and painless", he threatened, pointing his Katana at the Hunter. Once again the Hunter ignored him, preparing to bring down its shield on Faye's head.

"So be it", he said darkly. As soon as he had said that, he threw his Katana at the unsuspecting Hunter. It imbedded itself into the Hunters shoulder, causing it to roar out in pain and stagger back slightly. It took its foot of Faye, who quickly rolled out from underneath it. With Faye now out of the way, Will charged the Hunter.

The Hunter ignored the sword in its shoulder, firing its cannon at the charging ODST. Will sidestepped, easily dodging the shot. He drew his pistol as he closed the distance between him and the Hunter. Now only a metre away, he quickly slid, dodging the Hunters shield as it was swung at him. He rolled, quickly getting back up, before shooting the Hunter several times in each leg. It roared in pain, falling to its knees. Will grabbed hold of the Hunters shoulder, swinging himself over its head and onto its back. He then ripped the Katana out of the Hunters shoulder, spinning it around in his grip, before bringing it down onto the Hunters head, easily piercing its armour and its skull. He twisted the sword in its skull, before kicking the Hunter in the neck, breaking it easily. The Hunter stayed up for only a second longer, before crashing to the ground with Will still on top of it. There were several seconds where nothing happened, and the only noise was the sound of Will's heavy breathing. The rest of the squad stared wide eyed at Will, unsure what do say or do. As usually, Shawn was the first one to break the silence.

"Holy shit, talk about overkill! That was awesome!" he said. Will smirked at the comment, before sheathing his Katana. He turned his attention to Faye, who was still on the ground, looking at him. He quickly went up to her, kneeling beside her.

"Are you okay?" he asked her. She didn't reply straightaway, instead wrapping her arms around him. He was surprised by this, but that was nothing compared to how surprised he was when he felt the wetness of her cheek. "You've been crying, why?" he asked, wiping the tears from her cheeks. She blushed at his touch, before sighing.

"Before you came and saved me, I was certain the Hunter would kill me. At that moment, it wasn't fear or anger or despair which I felt, but regret", she told him.

"Regret? You where crying because you regretted something?" he asked. Faye nodded in reply. "What did you regret?" he asked her. She was now blushing so badly almost her entire face was purple. She took a deep breath, before looking at him.

"I regretted not doing this", she said, before kissing him. Will eyes widened, he had certainly not expected this. This kiss felt different from a humans, and looking down he could see why. While her upper mandibles stayed where they normally were, the lower ones were opened slightly, though not enough for her to cut him with her teeth. It was a good different though, and Will found himself enjoying it. He closed his eyes, returning the kiss.

'_H-he's returning the kiss!'_ she thought, a wave of joy sweeping over her body. She had never thought he would feel the same way, and she was so glad she was wrong.

"Aww, that's so cute", Natasha whispered to Shawn as she watched them. Shawn was leaning on her, watching them as well.

"Yer, I guess it is", he said weakly. Natasha turned to him, surprised by what he had said.

"What, no wise ass cracks or anything?" she asked. He shook his head.

"I think I'll let them off for tonight. Besides, I don't think I can survive being thrown into the wall again", he told her, still watching them. Natasha suddenly jumped, turning him to face her. "What are you doing?" he asked.

"Shh! We don't want them to know we were watching", she whispered.

After what seemed like an eternity, the kiss ended, as both of them pulled out to catch their breath. They kept their eyes on each other, both blushing heavily.

"Y-you...returned the...kiss", Faye said through heavy breaths. Will nodded, placing his forehead against hers.

"Because I love you", he admitted. She smiled, embracing him.

"I love you too", she said quietly, nuzzling his neck. It was at this point they both remembered they were not alone. Turning, they saw both Natasha and Shawn watching them. Will and Faye started blushing heavily when they realised they had been kissing right in front of the rest of the squad.

"We didn't see anything; I was too busy helping Shawn. Isn't that right Shawn", she said, turning to Shawn. He ignored her, giving Will a thumbs up.

"Great going dude! I suppose I'll have to wear ear muffs tonight. You know, so I can't hear anything", he shouted to Will, whose face was now completely red. Natasha hit him over the head.

"I thought you said you weren't going to say any wise cracks!" she shouted at him.

"I did, I was being serious there", he said, rubbing the back of his head. Will and Faye quickly got up, still blushing quite badly.

"S-so how is Shawn?" Will asked, trying to change the subject.

"He may have a bruised rib, but nothing is broken...yet", she said, looking angrily at him. Will chuckled.

"It's okay, I can't blame Shawn for being so annoying, it's in his nature", he said.

"Thanks dud- Hey!" Shawn shouted as he realised just what Will had said. Faye ignored Shawn, looking up at the sky.

"It's getting late, we should find somewhere to stay for the night", she suggested. Will nodded, retrieving his helmet, which amazingly wasn't damaged. He turned back to the squad.

"Right, let's find a suitable building to stay in for the night", Will ordered. The squad quickly moved out, only too eager to find some shelter before the cold night, or another Hunter arrived.

**Well I think you guys can guess what will happen in the next chapter ;)**

**I will put a warning in the author note to remind you, just in case any of you don't want to read it. You won't be missing out on anything major, just sweet inter-species action (why would you want to miss that anyway?).**

**I hope you enjoyed this chapter, more updates are on the way (hopefully at a faster rate than this one).**


	13. Inter-species diplomacy

**Well here it is, as promised, the bow chica wow wow scene (if you get that reference you are awesome). For those that don't want to read about inter-species sex (I'm pretty sure that's nobody), this is your chance to turn away now.**

**The sex itself is pretty graphic, but I've refrained from using the words you usually describe sex with. I just think it can be awkward for the reader to read, and can take away from the emotional side of things. If there is anything you don't understand, feel free to pm me.**

**Anyway please do enjoy, and try not get too excited ;) **

**Chapter 13**

**London, UK, Earth**

**November 15****th**** 2552. 20:37 hours**

The squad sat around the large fire they had made, having just finished their meals. Natasha was on one side of the room with Shawn, rechecking his wounds.

On the other side of the room were Will and Faye, who were resting against each other. They hadn't kissed or done anything intimate since they had arrived at their chosen building, they had just been content to enjoy each other's company. There was of course another reason for that, the fact that they were still a little bit nervous about doing such intimate things, especially in front of Natasha and Shawn.

"There, all done", Natasha said as she finished checking Shawn over. He smiled at her.

"Thanks, I appreciate the help", he said.

"You're welcome", she said, putting the med kit away. Shawn looked over at Will and Faye, smiling.

"I haven't seen him this happy in a long time", he said. Natasha turned to look at the couple, smiling herself.

"They're a cute couple. Strange, but cute", she said. Shawn raised an eyebrow.

"Strange?" he said.

"Yer, I mean look at them. They're from two different races with different traditions and beliefs, two races which don't really share a whole lot of resemblance. Not to mention the fact that they were enemies not a month ago. With all that, you would think they wouldn't find any reason to love each other, and yet they did", she explained. Shawn shrugged.

"I guess love always prevails, no matter what's in its way", he said. Natasha face palmed.

"Can't you go five minutes without being corny or cliché?" she asked. He chuckled weakly.

"I'm afraid not, it's just too funny seeing people's reactions for me to stop", he said, grinning at her. He then blushed slightly, "I hate to ask this from you, but could you help me to my room. It's hard to stand up."

"Sure, are you tired?" she asked. He shook his head, pointing at the couple across the room. Natasha turned to see them both quickly avert their gazes, pretending they hadn't been looking before.

"I think they want to have some time alone, if you know what I mean", he said.

"Wouldn't they just go to one of their rooms to do that?" she asked.

"Yer but they don't want us to know that they're doing that. You saw how embarrassed they got over a kiss, they're gonna be a lot worse with this", he told her.

"Oh right!" she said, now understanding what he had meant. She quickly helped him, before looking Will and Faye, "We're just going to bed now. Not the same bed obviously, we just-"

"Natasha!" Shawn whispered loudly into her ear.

"Anyway, we'll be off now. Have fun- I mean good night", she said, before quickly taking off, dragging Shawn along with her. Faye blushed, turning to Will.

"What did she mean by have fun?" Faye asked. Will also blushed, smiling sheepishly.

"She probably thinks we're going to have sex tonight", he said. Faye blushed even more.

"A-are we?" she asked nervously. Will blushed, before kissing her lightly on the cheek.

"Only if you want to, I'm not going to force you to do anything you don't want to do", he said, smiling softly at her. She thought for a second, before looking at Will, smiling nervously.

"I want to", she told him. He smiled lovingly at her, before picking himself up. He then took one Faye's hands, helping her up.

"Follow me then", he said, leading her to his room. She blushed, following him nervously.

* * *

Will slowly began removing his armour as Faye looked down at the floor, rubbing her arms nervously. He looked up at her, raising an eyebrow.

"Are you okay?" he asked her. She looked up at him, blushing badly.

"I-I'm nervous", she admitted. He went up to her, putting an arm on her shoulder.

"You don't have to do this if you don't want to", he told her. She shook her head, smiling at him.

"I do want to, I really do. It's just, I've never done this before", she admitted, looking down at the ground. He cupped her cheeks in his hands, raising her head so she was looking at him again.

"Hey, it's okay to be nervous, I was nervous the first time I did it too. But there's nothing for you to be worried about, I promise. I want you to enjoy yourself, and I'm not going to force you into doing anything", he told her. She smiled, before hugging him tightly.

"Thank you", she said quietly, kissing him on the cheek. She then took a deep breath, stepped back, and slowly began to remove her armour. Will smiled before quickly doing the same. Once taken off, he neatly put the armour to one side, ready for tomorrow. He then took his black undersuit off, leaving only his underwear on. He looked back to see Faye had also taken most of her amour off, leaving only the chest and pelvic armour on. She looked at him, staring at his left arm in particular.

"Where did you get that?" she asked. Will looked at his left arm, seeing the old Plasma burn scar she had been looking at.

"I got it on my very first mission, a Zealot caught me with its Energy sword when I was fighting it. Don't worry, it looks a lot better than when I first got it", he told her.

"Does it hurt?" she asked him. Will smiled, shaking his head.

"No, the pains long gone now. The only thing that's left is the scar, and I don't mind it", he said, before looking back at her, "Do you mind it, I know it's not the best looking of scars."

"It's fine, I actually kind of like it", Faye admitted, blushing even more. Will raised an eyebrow at her. "Sangheili females like males with scars, it proves that the males are capable warriors", she explained.

_'Well I'll be damned, Shawn was right, chicks do love scars'_, Will told himself. It was something Shawn had told him not long after their first mission, but he hadn't believed it until now. He came over to her, hugging her tightly.

"Thanks, it means a lot to me", he told her. She smiled back, but he could see she was still nervous, and took one of her hands, guiding her to his bed. He laid her down next to him, wrapping his arms around her waist as he smiled lovingly at her. She ignored her nervousness, and kissed him, this time more passionately. Will kissed her back, enjoying the how good it felt. Their mouths may not have been made for kissing one other, but to Will it just felt so right. It certainly felt better than any kiss a human girl had ever given him. He decided to make it even better, and opened his lips, slowly pushing his tongue into her mouth, being careful not to cut it on her sharp teeth. She was surprised by this, but quickly responded with her own tongue, using it to play with his.

Will couldn't believe just how good this kiss felt. The way her mandibles connected perfectly with his lips, the way their tongues played with each other, everything about it was perfect to him. But all good things must come to an end, and the two of them eventually (and reluctantly) pulled out of this kiss, both needing to breathe again. They stared into each other's eyes, slowly regaining their breath.

"Wow, that was amazing", Faye said quietly. The kiss had been just as good for her as it had been for him.

"Best kiss of my life", Will said, not a shred of doubt in his mind. Faye smiled, nodding in agreement. "Do you want to move on?" He asked. She blushed, but nodded.

Will put one arm behind her, slowly rolling her onto her back. She blushed even more when she realised he was now on top of her. He smiled down at her, moving one of his hands up to gently stroke her cheek. She shivered at his touch, moving her own hands upwards, stroking his chest and six pack. He was not overly muscular, but being a soldier meant that he had built up a fair amount of muscle. It was certainly enough to get Faye excited, who was practically drooling at the sight before her. Will chuckled.

"You like what you see?" he asked. She nodded eagerly, continuing to move her hands over his body. He smiled, before leaning towards her, planting a kiss on her neck. She gasped, ceasing her movements as Will continued to kiss at her neck. Happy he had her full attention, he slowly started move down, continuing to kiss her. He eventually reached her chest armour, and was forced to stop.

"May I?" he asked. She nodded, moving herself onto her elbows so she could see what he was doing. He moved his hands around her back, undoing the straps which held her armour in place. He then took the armour of her, quickly discarding it, before looking at her again.

"Wow", was all he could say as he stared at her breasts. How she managed to keep them under her armour he didn't know. He gently stroked one of them with his hand, causing Faye to moan quietly. Will grinned; he could tell she was sensitive there.

He leaned back down, starting to kiss her again. Without the chest armour, there was no interruption this time, and he eventually reached one of her breasts. He changed his tactics, now licking the area around her nipple. Faye continued to moan quietly, arching into him. He grinned, before taking the top of her breast in his mouth, licking at the nipple with his tongue. She gasped at the sudden increase in pleasure, arching further into him. He brought his right hand up, squeezing her other breast with it. Faye's moaning increased in volume as her pleasure steadily rose.

"W-Will", she moaned, digging her fingers into his back. She had thought the kiss was pleasurable, but this was on a whole different level. Eventually Will had to pull out catch his breath, much to the disappointment of both of them. He looked at her, grinning.

"Did you enjoy that?" he asked. She blushed but nodded quickly.

"Yes, but can we move on please?" she asked him.

"Of course", he said. He began to kiss her again, slowly moving down her body. She gasped softly, enjoying every little kiss he planted on her. Like last time, he was eventually stopped by her armour, but unlike last time, he didn't need to ask for permission. He moved his hands to her hip, undoing the straps on each side, before pulling her armour off and throwing it away.

He was pleasantly surprised by what he saw. Despite being a member of another species, her womanhood was remarkably similar to a humans. In fact the only noticeable difference was the colouration, which was a lighter tone of her brown skin. He brought his hand up to it, slowly rubbing the slit, causing Faye to moan quietly. Happy with her reaction, Will quickly took of his underwear, revealing his hard member to Faye, who stared at it.

"It's so big", she said quietly, causing Will to blush. He had never been called big before.

"Thanks", he said. He then pulled himself back up the bed, stopping when he was completely over her. Faye gasped when she felt his member poke at her entrance. She grabbed one of his hands, looking up at him.

"Please be gentle", she said quietly. He smiled down at her, kissing her forehead.

"Of course, whenever you're ready", he said, lining himself up. She took a deep breath, before looking up at him and nodding. He wrapped his free arm around her body, lifting her up slightly. He then moved forwards, slowly pushing himself inside her.

Faye cried out in a mixture of pain and pleasure as she felt herself get penetrated for the first time. She tightened her grip around Wills hand, her eyes starting to water slightly. Will noticed this and stopped moving inside her.

"Are you okay?" he asked her. She nodded, but he could see by her facial expressions she was still in some pain. He slowly leaned forward, gently kissing her. He felt her instantly calm down, and quickly return his kiss, moaning into it. When they eventually broke off the kiss Faye looked up at him with a loving smile.

"Thank you for being so patient", she said, wrapping her arms around him. He did the same, smiling down at her.

"Anything for you", he told her. She kissed him lightly on the cheek, bucking into him at the same time. Will took this as a sign she was ready to continue, and slowly pulled out of her, stopping at his tip. He then thrust back in, causing her to cry out again, this time in pure pleasure. The new sensation she was feeling was amazing, and she couldn't help but moan at every slight movement he made inside her.

Will thrust into her again, moaning as well. She was tighter than anyone he had ever been with. Maybe it was because this was her first time, or maybe it was something to do with her species, but he didn't really care about that right now. What he really cared about was just how good it felt.

"Faster, p-please!" Faye begged, digging her fingers into his back. She had long since forgotten her nervousness, and Will was only too happy to oblige her, moving his hands to her hips so he could thrust into her faster and bring more force into each one.

To say Will felt like he was in heaven would have been an understatement. Faye's walls felt so tight and warm around his member that he could barely stop himself from moaning with each thrust. Faye could not stop herself from moaning however. Each thrust from his member gave her levels of pleasure she never dreamed were possible.

They kept this up for several minutes, but eventually Faye's lack of experience began to catch up with her.

"I-I'm getting close!" she shouted. Will began to feel a pressure build up in his member. He normally lasted longer, but Faye's tightness was proving too much to cope with, and he had been pushed to the edge much sooner than he had expected (or wanted).

"Me too! Where do you want me to finish?" Will asked her. Faye quickly responded by wrapping her arms around him.

"Inside, please! Take me as your mate!" she shouted. Will was only too happy to oblige her and wrapped his arms around her body. He then drew her into the most passionate kiss he could muster. That kiss, combined with the overwhelming pleasure she was receiving, finally pushed her over the edge. She screamed into his mouth as her orgasm peaked.

The sudden wetness and constricting of her walls was all it took to push Will over the edge. He thrust into her one last time, hilting himself as he came inside her. He moaned into her mouth as he experienced the most powerful orgasm of his life, digging his fingers into her back.

It took a minute or two, but eventually their orgasms died down, leaving them to bask in its aftermath. Still kissing her, Will pulled his now flaccid member out of her womanhood, before lying himself next to her. They eventually pulled out of the kiss, both panting heavily.

"That was amazing. Thank you, my mate", she said quietly. Will wrapped his arms around her, pulling her close to him.

"You're welcome, my love", he replied. She smiled, kissing him weakly, before blushing.

"Is it alright if I stay here tonight?" she asked him. Will chuckled, stroking her cheek.

"Of course it is. From now, you can sleep in my bed anytime you want", he told her. She smiled, before resting her head on his shoulder and sighing.

"I love you", she said, moving her body as close to him as she could.

"I love you too", he told her. He reached down with one of his hands, grabbing the sheet, before pulling it over them. Faye snuggled even further into him, yawning at the same time.

"Is it normal to be so tired after having sex?" she asked him.

"It was your first time, you just need some practise", he told her.

"I'd like that", she said, causing Will to grin. She then sighed. "Goodnight my love", she said. Will brought his head down, kissing her lightly on the forehead.

"Goodnight Faye", he whispered. It wasn't long before both of them drifted off to sleep, still wrapped in their warm embrace.

**I hope you enjoyed reading that as much as I enjoyed writing it ;)**

**More updates will be on the way, so stay tuned. Now if you excuse me, I've gotten a little bit too excited, and I need to go 'relieve' myself ;)**


	14. Contemplation

**Well this chapter took longer than it should of, but I guess that's what I get for playing mass effect 3 all day. Anyway, here it is (finally).**

**Speaking of mass effect 3, if any of you want to play with me, I would be more than happy to. Just pm me (I only have a PS3, sorry Xbox players).**

**Anyway, please enjoy this chapter **

**Chapter 14**

**London, UK, Earth**

**November 16****th**** 2552. 09:53 hours**

Will yawned, stretching as he awoke from his slumber. He tried to sit up, but found that he was trapped under the still sleeping Faye, who lay over him. He tried to gently move her off him, but it proved to be an impossible task as she had her arms firmly wrapped around him. He sighed; there was no way of getting her off without waking her up, which was not something he wanted to do. She probably wouldn't be too happy with him for doing so and in all honesty, he found her too cute to wake up. He sighed, stroking her head.

'_I guess this isn't the worst place I could be stuck'_, he thought to himself. Her embrace was certainly comforting, and it kept him warm despite it being another bitterly cold morning. It also gave him time to look back on the past few days.

To say their romance was fast would be an understatement; they had only met four days ago. Most people would say it's impossible to fall in love that quickly, but most people don't usually go through what they have. Being reminded of his parents, being separated from his squad, and losing Foley and the marines, it was a lot for one man to through. And Faye had been there for him the whole way, despite their differences and her original doubts about humans. Sure, Shawn and Natasha had also been there for him, but that was different. Shawn had been his friend for years, and had been with him through the worst of the worst. He had comforted him in past, most recently when they had been aboard the _Swiftsure_, but he certainly couldn't provide the warm, loving comfort that Faye had given him. And as for Natasha, he hadn't managed to get to know her to well. Sure, they had been through just as much and he valued her as a friend because of it, but it had been more intimate between him and Faye. Besides, she seemed more interested in Shawn anyway.

Whereas the reminiscing about the past few days had filled him with joy, thinking about the future only made him worry. There was still a war going on, a mission to be completed, and he was yet to find the rest of his squad. He worried about all of them, Lindsay, Aleski, Dale, and Captain Archer. Four days and he not received any word from them.

'_They're ODST's just like you, they can handle themselves'_, he told himself. He was right of course, they were certainly capable of surviving by themselves, and that gave him a lot of hope. Still, he couldn't help but worry all the time.

He looked down at Faye, smiling sadly at her. She was almost certainly going through the same as him, having not received any word from her lance either. In fact she was probably going through worse, considering her brother was a member of her lance.

'_She must be so worried about him'_, he thought. She hadn't talked about the rest of her lance in any high regard, probably due to the sexism and disrespect she had received from them, but she was probably still worried about them as well.

Thinking about Faye brought him onto another, even more worrying subject, their relationship and its future. As much as hated this war, a part of him wanted it to continue, because he knew what would likely happen when it ended. He would remain on Earth, while she would be shipped back to Sanghelios, never to see him again. It hurt him, they had been together for less than a day and already their relationship looked doomed to fail, whether it be through death, or the end of the war.

"Something on your mind?" A familiar voice asked. He looked down to see Faye looking up at him. Apparently he had been so deep in thought he hadn't noticed her wake up.

"It's nothing, don't worry about it", he told her. As much as he hated lying to her, he felt he had to. She deserved to be happy, and not have to worry like him.

She didn't enquire any further, tightening her embrace around him instead, sighing.

"So, what are doing today?" she asked.

"Well we go to ONI, hope the rest of our squad is there, and complete the mission", he told her. She groaned, tightening her grip on him.

"That sounds boring, can't we just stay in bed all day?" she asked. He laughed, stroking her head.

"I would love to do that, but we have to complete the mission. Besides, there's a chance we might find your brother today", he said. She sighed, before releasing him from her embrace and sitting up.

"I hope you're right, I really do miss him", she admitted. She rolled off the bed, stretching a little, before making her way over to her armour. Will quickly did the same.

"Of course you do, he's your brother. I felt the same way when I got separated from Shawn", he said, slipping into his undersuit. Faye put on her chest armour, before turning to him.

"He means a lot to you?" she asked. Will chuckled, slipping on one of his greaves.

"Yer, he's the closest thing I have to a family", he admitted. She stopped putting on her armour, looking at him.

"What do you mean? What about your actual family?" she asked.

'_Oh shit!'_ Will thought. He hadn't told her anything about his past, especially about his parents. He didn't even know if he could, it was still a touchy subject for him. He had never told anyone apart from Shawn, who he completely trusted.

"Nothing, it was just a slip of the tongue", he lied. She crossed her arms, staring at him.

"I'm not an idiot, I know you're not telling me something. Please, I only want to help", she told him. He sighed; maybe it was worth a shot. Besides, keeping secrets in relationships was never a good thing.

"Okay, but can we talk about it later? It's a long story", he said, continuing to put on his armour. She nodded.

"Of course", she said, putting on her final piece of armour, her helmet. He did the same, but left his helmet off so she could still see his face.

"Thank you", he said. Faye was about to reply, when her stomach grumbled. Will laughed.

"Perhaps we should get some breakfast", he suggested. She blushed, but nodded. They had both worked up quite an appetite, thanks in no small amount to the events of last night.

They left their room, making their way over to the larger room where they had sat by the fire last night. Once there they found Shawn and Natasha, eating their own breakfast. Shawn noticed them enter, and grinned at them.

"You two have fun last night? It certainly sounded like you did", he said. Both Faye and Will blushed.

"Yer, sorry if we were a bit loud last night, we kind of got carried away", Will said, rubbing the back of his head and smiling nervously. Shawn chuckled, waving his hand at them.

"I didn't mind. Besides, it gives me something new to annoy the both of you about", he said, still grinning at them. Faye leaned towards Will.

"Are you sure you missed him?" she whispered. He chuckled.

"Not anymore", he said. They both sat down with Shawn and Natasha, digging into their own breakfast.

"So, what's the plan today?" Natasha asked between bites. Will swallowed the food he had in his mouth, turning to her.

"We're not far from ONI headquarters now, so we will make our way over there, should take us less than an hour. Hopefully we'll meet the rest of the ODST's and Sangheili once we arrive, otherwise it will be very hard for us to defend ONI by ourselves", he told her.

"Sounds like a plan, it's been too long since we last saw our squad mates", Shawn said. Will couldn't agree with him more.

'_I just hope they're all still alive'_, Will thought to himself.

* * *

Meanwhile, far above the planet, the battle for Earth raged on. It was a fight the UNSC was losing, despite the Sangheili's help, with more than half of their own ships destroyed. The UNSC ships were just no match for the larger, more advanced Covenant ships they were up against.

One ship, a CAS-class assault carrier known as the _Pitiless Salvation_, proved such a point, engaging two Paris-class Frigates at once. The two Frigates fired their weapons at the massive ship approaching them, but it did no damage as the assault carrier's powerful shields blocked the attack. The _Pitiless Salvation _fired its pulse laser turrets and plasma torpedoes at the nearest Frigate, almost instantly disabling it. It then fired one of its energy projectors at the remaining Frigate, cutting it clean in half within seconds. The assault carrier continued forward, ramming the disabled Frigate, completely destroying it.

The shipmaster of the _Pitiless Salvation_, a Brute called Vrentanum, howled in laughter as he watched the Human Frigate get smashed into oblivion by his much larger ship.

"Is this the best the Humans can offer? I can hardly see their ships", he joked. He had been enjoying himself from the moment he had arrived above Earth several days ago. Not only was he rid of those accursed Sangheili, he also had his own ship to command. He had spent the last day picking off what remained of the rather pathetic UNSC fleet, which had little left to counter the _Pitiless Salvation_. He had even managed to take down a Sangheili ship, much to his delight.

One of his officers, another Brute, quickly came up to him, throwing him a salute.

"Shipmaster Vrentanum, you have new orders", the officer said. Vrentanum slammed his fist down, turning to the officer, who was now cowering before him.

"Can't you see I'm having fun here?! Come back another time!" he shouted. The officer gulped.

"B-but sir, these orders come from the Prophets themselves", he stuttered. Vrentanum sighed. As much as he was enjoying himself, he was still loyal to the Covenant.

"Well what are you waiting for then?! Tell me already!" he shouted.

"T-the ground forces on Earth have encountered heavier resistance than expected. You are to deploy reinforcements in one of the Human cities, known as London", he told his shipmaster. Vrentanum sighed angrily. He would much rather above Earth, playing with the Humans pathetic excuse for a fleet, than on the ground, watching a boring, drawn out fight from a far. Still, orders from the Prophets were not to be disobeyed.

"So be it, set course for this London place", he ordered. The officer saluted, before quickly running off, partly to carry out his orders, but mostly just to escape his angry shipmaster.

Vrentanum sat back in his chair, smirking. If there was one good thing about going down to the planet's surface, it was that he would now have opportunity to kill Humans and Sangheili with his own hands. Something he always enjoyed doing.

**A named Brute? Blasphemy! **

**I hope you enjoyed this chapter, please review, follow and favourite if you enjoyed it. More updates are on the wat**


	15. Snipers galore

**You: Oh my various god's, Ponyeffect actually updated!**

**Yes my friends, I have another chapter for you, later than expected (as usual). In this chapter Will and Faye go a magical adventure to wonderland, while Shawn finally gets it on with that wall his been hitting on so many times (I think it's important to note that this isn't actually what happens in the chapter, I'm just high for some reason. I swear I didn't take any drugs XD)**

**Anyway, please do enjoy, and remember, stay out of the cat box.**

**Chapter 15**

**London, UK, Earth**

**November 16****th**** 2552. 10:42 hours**

After another bland breakfast made from whatever rations they had left over, the squad quickly moved out, undeterred by the heavy downpour of rain which greeted them. They were eager to get to ONI headquarters within the hour, as it represented an opportunity to rejoin with their respected squads.

The squad was on high alert. ONI headquarters would be a prime target for the Covenant, so there was a good chance they could get attacked at any point. Well, most of the squad was on high alert, except for Shawn, who was still teasing Will and Faye.

"Will and Faye sitting in a tree, doing what they shouldn't be. First comes love, then comes marriage, then a weird hybrid baby in the baby carriage", Shawn sang, grinning the whole time. The rest of the squad rolled their eyes.

"You know, I've never wished for a Covenant sniper before, but I'm seriously considering it", Will said.

"Agreed, though I don't care whether it shoots him or me, as long as I don't have to listen to his annoying voice anymore", Faye said. Shawn turned around, grinning widely at them.

"Oh come on now, I'm just trying to have some fun", he said.

"How's about I have some fun by throwing you into another wall?" Faye asked. Shawn grimaced, holding his side, which still hurt slightly.

"On second thoughts, having fun might not be such a good idea", he said. Will laughed.

"I could never get him to shut up! Have you ever thought about training him?" Will asked. Faye grinned.

"Honey, we've only just got into a relationship, I don't think we're ready for a pet just yet", she said. Will and Natasha laughed at her joke, as Shawn turned away, crossing his arms.

"Ha ha, very funny", he said sarcastically. Faye was going to annoy him further, when Will put his hand up, stopping her.

"We're almost there now", he said, pointing at ONI headquarters, which was now in sight, "Anyway, I would suggest against trying to beat him at his own game, he'd only find a way to get back at you later on." Faye sighed.

"Okay then", she said. Will nodded, before turning back to look at ONI. He could see there was some fighting going on, be he couldn't make it out from this distance.

"Damn, I can't see who's fighting over there", he said.

"Can you at least tell who's in control of the building?" Natasha asked. Will looked again, squinting his eyes.

"Judging by the muzzle flashes, I think we're still in control of it, but there's no way to be sure unless we get closer", he told them.

"What are we waiting for then? Let's get to it", Shawn said. Will put his hand out, stopping Shawn from just taking off.

"No, the main road is too open and the Covenant would most likely spot us before we got anywhere near the building. It would be a better option to take one of the side roads over there. It would take longer, but it's more covered, and would give us the perfect flanking position on the Covenant troops", Will told them. They nodded.

"Let's go then, the sooner we reunite with our squad the better", Shawn said.

'_Couldn't agree with you more'_, Will thought as the squad set off, taking one of the side roads to the right of the main road.

"Keep an eye out for any Covenant troops!" Will shouted as they ran down the street. As if on cue a Jackal sniper appeared in a building to the left of them, firing its Beam rifle. The shot connected with the side of Natasha's helmet, knocking her to the ground.

"Natasha!" Shawn screamed. He grabbed hold of her, pulling her behind a car. He looked down at her, expecting the worst. He was surprised by what he saw. Somehow, she was still alive, even after taking a shot to the head.

Natasha was just as surprised as he was and quickly took off her helmet, looking at it. There was a scorch mark where the shot had hit, but it had somehow not penetrated her helmet.

"You are one lucky bastard, you know that right? That shot bounced right off your helmet", Shawn told her, smiling as he looked down at her. To say she was lucky was an understatement. Though it wasn't unheard of, the chances of a standard Marine's helmet stopping a shot from a high powered gun such as a beam rifle was one in a million at best. She nodded, smiling back at him.

"Are you okay Natasha?" Will asked from behind another car.

"I have a bit of a headache, but apart from that I think I'm okay", Natasha said, rubbing her head. Happy with that response, Will peeked out from his cover, trying to see where the sniper was. He quickly pulled himself back in cover as a plasma shot whizzed past him.

"Where's the sniper?" Faye asked.

"At least twenty floors up", Will said.

"Damn! There's no way I can take a shot like that in this weather. At least not without a sniper rifle or something", Faye said.

"God damn it, I really hate snipers!" Will said.

"Hey, I take offense to that", said someone in a deep, Russian accent. Will looked to the right of him to see another ODST hiding behind a car, sniper rifle in hand. There was only one ODST in Will's squad who had a Russian accent, and carried a sniper rifle at all times.

"Aleski?" Will asked. The ODST waved at him.

"That's me. So, how have you and Shawn been lately?" he asked.

"Well yesterday Shawn got bitch slapped into a wall by a Hunter, and we nearly got crushed by a Scarab, but apart from that everything's been good. What about you?" Will asked.

"Well I met with Dale and this Elite a few hours after we landed, and we've been making our way here ever since", Aleski told him.

"The Sergeant's with you? Where is he?" Shawn asked. Aleski turned, pointing at a building a few metres away.

"He's in there with our new Elite friend, waiting for me to take out the sniper. Hey Sarge, say hi to our friends!" he shouted.

"Private Nasenko, enough with the pleasantries. I believe you have a sniper to deal with", he shouted back. Aleski rolled his eyes, chuckling slightly.

"He never changes, does he?" he said. Faye, who had been silent up until this point, decided to speak up.

"I agree with your Sergeant, you should deal with the sniper first. I hardly think this is the best place to catch up anyway", she said.

"I already know where it is. Third building, twenty three floors up, fifteenth window across", he said. Will chuckled when he saw Faye's jaw dropped expression.

"Yer, he does that sometimes", he said, before turning to Aleski, "So, how do you plan to deal with this sniper?"

"Unfortunately, I'm going to need a distraction. I need one of you to break cover so I can get a clear shot at it", Aleski told them.

"That's suicide; it's a miracle Natasha survived, how do you expect anyone else to?!" Shawn asked.

"I think you've forgotten how accurate I am", Aleski said.

"I hate to say it, but it's our best option. I'll do it", Will said. Faye grabbed him.

"No don't! It's a miracle Natasha survived, there is no way you'll be as lucky!" she told him. Aleski smirked, loading his sniper rifle.

"Don't worry ma'am, I'm a professional. I'll make sure he survives", he said.

"I'll be okay, I promise", Will said. Faye sighed, before (rather reluctantly) releasing her grip on him. She then turned to Aleski.

"You better be as good as you say you are", she said.

"I am, don't worry about that", he told her.

"So what do you want me to do exactly?" Will asked. Aleski pointed to a car about twenty metres away.

"Run for that car as quickly as you can. Make your movements as realistic as possible, I want to make sure it fools the sniper", he said. Will laughed nervously.

"Oh don't worry, it'll be real alright", he said. As much as he trusted Aleski's shooting abilities, he was still scared shitless.

"On the count of three then", Aleski said. Will pulled himself into a knelt position, ready to run. All eyes, except for those of Aleski's, watched him.

"One..." Will tightened his grip around his M7S, looking at his target.

"Two..." He closed his eyes, taking a deep breath.

**(Slow motion scene to add drama :O)**

"Three!" Will's eyes shot open as he darted out of his cover, running as quickly as he could. As he did so, Aleski pulled back, aiming his sniper rifle at where he knew the Jackal was, waiting for it to appear.

The Jackal took the bait, peering over its cover, aiming its Beam rifle at Will. However, just as it was about to shoot, it saw something move in the corner of its sights. It quickly turned, and saw Aleski aiming his sniper rifle directly at it.

"Oh shit", it said in its own language. A fraction of a second later Aleski fired. The Jackal had no time to react as the bullet was sent flying into the Beam rifle's sight, sending glass, and the bullet itself, flying into the Jackal's eye, killing it instantly.

**(Dramatic slow motion scene is over now :P)**

"Sniper's down, area secure sir!" Aleski shouted. Will stopped running when he heard that, breathing a sigh of relief. As he turned back to the squad, Dale Chambers and the Elite came out of their hiding spot.

"Fine shooting as always Private Nasenko", Dale said.

"Thank you sir", Aleski said. Dale turned to the rest of the group.

"Private Martinez, Private Walters, it's good to see you're still alive", he said. Both of them saluted.

"Same for you Sarge", Shawn said, before turning back to Natasha, "Could please check on Natasha sir, she took a Beam rifle shot to the head." Dale Chambers was the squad's medic as well as its second in command.

"Of course", he said, kneeling next to Natasha, pulling out his med kit. As he did so, the Elite turned to Faye, who had not yet noticed him. He smiled.

"It's good to see you again little sis", he said. Faye turned quickly at the sound of the familiar voice. When she saw who it was, she ran up to him, hugging him tightly.

"Thon, I've missed you so much!" she shouted. Her brother chuckled, hugging her back.

"And I've missed you too", he said, "I hope the humans have been treating you well." She blushed slightly.

"They have. You were right about trusting them, they have been really nice", she told him. Of course one human in particular had been very nice to her, but she decided to refrain from telling him. She did not know how he would react, and wanted him and Will to get to know each other better before she told him.

"I told you. Mine have been nice too, although the medic can get grouchy often, and it's sometimes hard to understand the Russian one", he told her. She nodded, before pointing at Shawn.

"Just to warn you, Shawn often acts like a smartass, and will almost always try to annoy you. Just try to ignore him", she said.

"And if that doesn't work?" he asked. She grinned at him.

"Then threaten to throw him at a wall, I find that often does the trick", she said. He shook his, grinning himself.

"So, what about the others?" he asked.

"Well Natasha's very friendly, I've enjoyed her company. It's not often I get to talk to a girl", she said, before pointing at Will, "And that's Will, he's led our mini lance this whole time. I like him; he's been a good friend to me."

"He's already your friend? You do work quickly", Thon said. Faye blushed, looking away.

'_If only you knew'_, she thought to herself. Meanwhile, Drew finished checking Natasha over.

"You're very lucky, most soldiers have more than a headache when they get hit by a Beam rifle shot", he told her. He then left, leaving her with Shawn, who helped her up.

"I told you I was okay", she said. Shawn smiled sheepishly.

"I wanted to make sure, I was worried about you", he admitted. Natasha blushed, playing nervously with her blond hair.

"Thanks", she said. He smiled, giving her somewhat damaged helmet to her.

"You're probably gonna need a new one of those", he said.

"Squad, gather round", Drew ordered. The group quickly gathered round him as he began to speak, "Here's the plan. ONI headquarters is only a few streets away, we're going to quickly move there, smash our way through the Covenant troops, and join whatever forces are holding out there."

"Do you know if Captain Lovitz or Lindsay are there?" Will asked. Drew shook his head.

"No, I haven't got any word from them or the group defending ONI", he told them.

"The Covenant must be blocking our signal again", Thon said.

"Maybe, but it doesn't change the plan. Hopefully Captain Lovitz and Private Griffin will be there, along with the rest of the Elites. If not, we still defend ONI, and hope that they find their way here eventually", he said.

"So what are waiting for? Let's go kick some Covenant ass!" Shawn shouted. For once everyone agreed with him, and the group quickly moved out.

'_Two down, two more to go'_, Will thought to himself. He hoped Archer and Lindsay would be there to greet them, along with the rest of the Elites.

* * *

"Shipmaster, we have a report from the city", a Brute officer told Vrentanum.

"Well, tell me already!" he shouted.

"Covenant ground forces have discovered the location of the target building. They have begun their attack, but have met heavy resistance", the officer told him.

"Then that is where we send the reinforcements. How long until we arrive there?" Vrentanum asked.

"Less than an hour shipmaster", the officer said.

"Good, we must reach there before the Humans destroy it or make off with the data. That data could be the key to finding whatever this planet holds, and if it doesn't, it will provide us with lots of information we can use against the wretched Human scum", Vrentanum told them, before turning to another Brute, "Prepare the ground forces immediately. I want them deployed as soon as possible."

"Yes shipmaster", the Brute said, quickly running off to complete his orders. Vrentanum sat back in his chair, grinning. The Humans didn't know what was about to hit them.

**Dramatic slow motion scenes are extremely dramatic, wouldn't you agree?**

**I hope you enjoyed that, more updates to come.**


	16. Back together again

**I finally got a chapter out on time, thank god for that :D**

**I'm going to be in London all day tomorrow (I'll make sure to say hi to Will and Faye if I see them XD), so I won't be able to work on the next chapter for a little while :(**

**Anyway, I hope you guys enjoy it, it's the first piece of solid action we've had in a little while.**

**Chapter 16**

**London, UK, Earth**

**November 16****th**** 2552. 12:26 hours**

"Squad, form up on me", Drew ordered, leaning against wall. The squad quickly followed his order, stacking up behind him. They had reached the end of the side road, and were now in a perfect position to flank the Covenant troops, who were still attacking ONI headquarters. Drew peered round the corner, trying to see what opposition they'd face.

"What have they got out there Sarge?" Aleski asked.

"A rather small force really. No vehicles, about seven Brutes, and a mixture of Jackals and Grunts, numbering about forty", he told them.

"Why would they use a force that small to try and take a place as important as ONI?" Natasha asked.

"It is possible the Covenant are unaware of the significance of the building, if so it would explain the small numbers", Thon suggested.

"Maybe, but we shouldn't underestimate them, even with their low numbers. They have a fortified position, as well as a mixture of heavy weapons which could really do some damage if pointed the right way", Drew said.

"Maybe we could get a little closer so we have a better shot at those heavy weapons", Will suggested. Drew nodded.

"Good idea, they'll probably be too distracted by threat in front of them to notice us", he said. Aleski drew back the bolt on his sniper rifle.

"Orders Sarge?" he asked. Drew remained silent for a few moments, finalising the details to his plan, before turning back to the squad.

"Right, here's the plan, we're going to split the squad into three groups. Nasenko, I want you behind that car over there", he ordered, pointing to a car about ten metres down the road, "I'll need you to take out any targets which are direct threat to the rest of us. Try to focus your fire on the targets with heavy weapons."

"Yes Sarge", Aleski said, quickly moving to the car in question. Once he was there, Drew turned back to the squad again.

"Elites, you're with me. We'll take cover behind that truck about thirty meters away", he said, pointing to the truck, "Once we're there we'll provide suppressing fire for the final group." Both Elites nodded, Faye drawing her Carbine, and Thon loading his Needle rifle. Drew finally turned to Will, Natasha, and Shawn.

"You guys are the close combat group. As we provide suppressing fire, you will move in, and engage the Covenant troops at close range. Stay within a reasonable distance of us though, otherwise you'll lose radio contact", he told them. Though the interference tower were still in effect, at close distances radio contact could still be achieved. The close combat group nodded, loading their weapons.

"Let's do this", Shawn said. Drew peered round the corner, looking at Aleski.

"Nasenko, is the coast clear?" he asked. He received a thumbs up in reply. He turned back to the rest of the squad, "Right, everyone follow me to the truck, as quickly and as quietly as you can."

He quickly turned the corner, the rest of the squad not far behind him. It only took them a few seconds to reach the truck, and fortunately the Covenant troops had not seen them. Drew turned to his radio.

"Still clear Nasenko?" he asked.

"Yes Sarge, you should be fine", Aleski replied. Drew looked at the close combat group.

"When Nasenko takes the first shot, I want you to break cover and charge at the Covenant troops. You have about forty meters to cover, so don't make any mistakes", he told them.

"Yes Sarge", Will said, moving to the very edge of the truck, M7S in hand. Shawn and Natasha quickly stacked up behind him, pistols drawn.

"I'm really starting to miss my shotgun", Shawn said.

"There should be an armoury in ONI headquarters, maybe you'll find one there", Natasha said.

"I hope so. Oh and Natasha, try not to get shot out there. I don't want to have to save your ass again", Shawn said. Natasha rolled her eyes. She knew it was Shawn's way of saying be careful.

"Enough talking you guys, it's time. Get ready", Drew told them, before turning to his radio, "Nasenko, you're up." Aleski gave a thumbs up, before aiming down his sights. He scanned the Covenant troops, looking for the perfect target to hit first. He found it in the form of a grunt carrying a fuel rod cannon. He grinned.

"Let's start this with a bang shall we", he said to himself. He took a deep breath, tightening his grip on the sniper rifle, before firing with deadly precision. His intended target was not the Grunt however, but rather the fuel rod cannon it was holding. The bullet hit one of the explosive rounds, detonating it. Several grunts were killed in the explosion, and even more were staggered by its shockwave.

Taking that as the sign to go, the close combat group quickly broke cover. They moved as quickly as they could, trying to close the gap between them and the Covenant troops as quickly as they could. As they did so, Drew, Faye, and Thon stood up, aiming their weapons at the Covenant troops.

"Suppressing fire!" Drew shouted as the group unloaded into the exposed Covenant troops, killing several of them, and forcing a lot of them to take cover.

Will and the rest of his group were now only ten meters away from the cowering Covenant troops. The suppressing fire had worked extremely well, and they had hardly been shot at. A Brute broke cover, aiming its Concussion rifle at the incoming Humans. It never got a chance to fire it however, as its head was blown apart by another precise shot by Aleski.

Now right next to their targets, the group began firing their weapons, killing several Grunts and Jackals before they had time to react.

Will turned slightly, emptying the remainder of his clip into a charging Brute, dropping its shields. It was then finished by a headshot from Faye's Carbine. He quickly put his M7S away, drawing his energy Katana as a Brute Captain charged him, combat knives in each of its hands. Will smirked.

"So that's how you're gonna play it huh? Okay then, let's dance", he said, charging back at the Brute.

* * *

As this was happening, Natasha and stood back to back, firing their pistols at the Covenant troops all around them. One Grunt got a lucky shot, hitting Shawn in the shoulder with its Needler. He roared out in pain, shooting the Grunt responsible.

"Are you okay!?" Natasha asked. Shawn quickly pulled the crystal out before it exploded, throwing it away.

"Don't worry about me, just keep shooting!" he shouted. She was only too happy to oblige, dropping a Jackal with a well aimed shot. A Brute tried to flank them, but was killed by yet another headshot from Aleski.

"Hell yeah, that's five headshots in row! I am on fire today!" he shouted through the radio.

* * *

Faye slammed another clip into her Carbine, before aiming down the road again. As much as she knew the others needed it too, she couldn't help but focus her fire at the troops trying to attack Will. She fired her Carbine several times, dropping a Grunt who had tried to attack Will from behind.

'_That's what you get for trying to kill my boyfriend asshole'_, she thought to herself. She wouldn't let anything kill him, especially now that they were together.

Will quickly jumped back as the Brute Captain lunged at him, barely avoiding the knife's sharp tip. He brought his left hand forward, punching the Brute in the face, staggering it slightly. It shook its head, regaining its composure in time to block Wills Katana with its knives. Seeing an opening, Will kneed the Brute in the crotch, causing it to keel over. He then delivered a powerful kick to the Brutes chest, knocking it to the ground. He slowly approached the Brute, ready to stab it.

"Will get down!" Faye shouted through his radio. He quickly followed her order, barely dodging the Gravity hammer which passed over him. He quickly turned around, trying to stab the Brute who attacked him, but was kicked to the ground by it. The Brute raised its hammer above its head, ready to bring it down upon Will. However, just as it was about to do so, several Carbine shots went flying over Will, hitting the Brute in its chest and neck. It gargled a bit as blood spilled out of its mouth, before falling to the ground.

"Are you okay Will?" Faye asked through the radio. Will got onto his knees, sighing in relief.

"I'm fine, thanks", he told her. Just as he was about to get back up, the Brute Captain came at him again, kicking him in the face. Will was sent flying through the air, before landing hard on his back.

'_Guess that's what I get for forgetting about him'_, Will thought as he pulled himself up, shaking his head. The Brute didn't wait for him to fully compose himself, charging the somewhat dazed ODST before it. Will quickly recovered though, and saw the charge coming, quickly rolling out the way. Now behind the Brute, Will quickly turned, slicing one of the Brutes legs. It roared in pain, falling to its knees. It tried to fight back, turning around on its knees while swinging one of its knives at Will, but he easily sidestepped the attack. The Brutes eyes widened as it realised it had completely exposed itself to a counter attack. Will took full advantage of this, stabbing his Katana into the Brutes neck. The Brute made a small, gargling sound before slumping to the floor.

"Clear over here!" he shouted, sheathing his sword. As he did so, Shawn fired several shots into the last Jackal, quickly killing it.

"All targets are down sir, area is clear!" he shouted. Happy that the coast was now clear, Drew signalled for Aleski and his group to follow him.

"Good job as always", he praised them, "Now let's get to ONI and make contact-"

"Oh shit, Wraith!" Aleski interrupted. The squad turned to see a Wraith come out of nowhere, turning to face them.

"Where the hell did it come from?!" Natasha asked.

"No time to find out, get to cover!" Drew shouted as the Wraith fired its main gun. Though the shot missed them, it impacted close enough to knock them all onto the floor.

'_Well shit'_, Will thought. They were now at the mercy of the Wraith, which was about to fire again. They would need a miracle to get them out of this mess.

"Marines, send that bastard back to the scrapheap!" A new and very familiar voice shouted. The squad turned to see one ODST, three Elites, and about twenty Marines standing on the Covenant's makeshift fortifications. Will and the rest of the ODST's instantly knew who the ODST was. Captain Archer Lovitz, their squad leader.

Two Marines fired their rocket launchers, both hitting the Wraith perfectly. It exploded in a ball of blue fire, killing its crew. Archer and several marines jumped down from their fortifications, making their way over to Will and the rest of the squad, who were pulling themselves up.

"Well look who finally decided to show up. You're only four days late", he said. Will and the other ODST's quickly saluted him.

"Sorry sir", Drew said. Archer chuckled.

"At ease gentlemen, I'm just glad to see you all again. It'll be great having the squad back together again", he said.

"Wait, what about Lindsay? I haven't seen her yet" Will said.

"Don't worry, she's with us too. I told her to stay at ONI with the rest of the Marines and Elites while we saved your asses", he said. Archer then turned to Faye and Thon. "You two will be happy to know that Vito 'Zamamee and the rest of your lance are with us as well", he told them. Faye wasn't entirely sure she was happy with that piece of news; she had never been fond of her lance members. In fact she would have been much happier just staying with the Humans.

"That's good to hear, thank you Captain", Thon said, certainly more happy with this news than his sister. He nodded, before turning back to the entire squad.

"Well then, let's get back to ONI before another Covenant force arrives", he said. The squad nodded, following him as he began making his way back to ONI headquarters.

Will smiled underneath his helmet as he walked. Finally, his squad was back together again after four long days. He was only worried about how they would react when news of his relationship with Faye got out. He looked over at Faye, who gave him a nervous smile. He could tell she was just as worried about it as he was. He sighed.

'_I guess we'll have to deal with it when we get there'_, he thought to himself.

**Well things have been going pretty smoothly for Will and Faye so far haven't they? We can't have that now can we? ****I won't give anything away, but you might be able to work out what happens next if you read chapter 3 really carefully (It's really small, so don't hate yourself if you can't work it out :P)**

**Anyway, I hope you enjoyed that, more updates to come **


	17. Ignoring traditions

**Well here it is, finally XD.**

**First off, I'd like to apologise for the long wait, I have been very busy lately with college and my birthday and other stuff like that.**

**Anyway, I'd like to point out a change I've made since the update. This is only part of the big chapter I was talking about. I decided to split in half because it seemed like the best option for all of us, you get another chapter, and I feel more confident knowing I've been able to update. That means that chapter 18 is already half done, so give me a couple of days and I'll be able to bring that to you.**

**I think it's important to note that although Archer is telling the squad about Lindsay's fight with an Elite, the flashback is in more Lindsay's perspective. This is so you know more about Lindsay and this new Elite. This means the squad will only know about the parts where Archer is involved, and not Lindsay's thoughts. I know it sounds kind of confusing, but just go with it ;)**

**P.s. All flashbacks are in italics/cursive writing.**

**Anyway, please enjoy guys and gals ;)**

**Chapter 17**

**London, UK, Earth**

**November 16****th**** 2552. 13:54 hours**

The walk from the Covenant fortifications to ONI was a few hundred metres, giving the squad time to talk. Captain Lovitz turned to Faye and Natasha as they walked.

"I probably don't need to warn you about this Faye, but let's just say the Elite's aren't exactly female friendly", he told them. Natasha gave him a confused look.

"What do you mean by that?" she asked.

"He means they can be very sexist at times, especially to non-Sangheili females", Faye said. Natasha titled her head, before turning to look at the nearest male Elite, who was Thon. He noticed her stare and raised his arms in a disarming manner.

"Hey, don't look at me, I'm not like that, I swear", he said, smiling sheepishly. Natasha looked back at Faye who nodded, silently telling her he wasn't lying.

"Sorry, it's just I don't know you all that well yet", Natasha apologised to Thon. He chuckled, waving his hand at her.

"There is no need to apologise, I am part of a minority anyway", he told her. Will, who had been listening in, turned to Captain Lovitz.

"Have they been like that to Lindsay?" he asked. The Captain sighed, nodding.

"Along with the few female marines we have there, yes. There was even a fight at one point", he told them.

"A fight?! What happened?" Shawn said. Captain Lovitz sighed.

"Well it involved Lindsay and the Elite known as Ygar, who is a Major and second in command of the Sangheili lance who are here with us. Let's just say they had a slight misunderstanding..."

_**London, UK, Earth**_

_**November 12**__**th**__** 2552. 13:37 hours**_

_The midday sun hung over London, basking the combined Human-Sangheili force who protected ONI headquarters in a warm glow. It was certainly different from the cold, dreary weather that normally clouded London at this time of year, not that anyone was complaining. _

_One such soldier, an ODST to be exact, leaned over one of the makeshift barriers surrounding the building, her helmet laid down next to her. She took a deep breath, idling playing with her untied brown hair as she stared off into the distance, before sighing._

'_Where are you Will, I miss you', she thought to herself. Of course she missed the rest of her squad, but none more so than Will. Unbeknownst to Will or any of her squad mates, she had quite a big crush on the guy, which had developed almost a year ago. Unfortunately for her, she had never had the courage to tell him, and she was now regretting it. 'If I could just see him again, I would tell him everything', she promised herself. _

"_You should really have your helmet on Lindsay, especially when you're not even trying to hide yourself from the enemy", a stern, but caring voice told her. She didn't turn to look at whoever had spoken, already knowing who it was._

"_I'm sorry Captain; I just wanted to take it off for a little while. I'll be sure to put it back on should I see anything", she told him. Archer sighed, leaning up against the barricade, before looking at her._

"_You've been a bit distant ever since we arrived here, are you okay?" he asked her. Lindsay turned to him, smiling sadly._

"_I'm fine, I just miss the others. It feels weird not being all together", she answered. _

"_I hear you, I don't think the squads been this far apart in a very long time", he told her. Lindsay sighed, looking down at the ground. Seeing this, Archer put his hand on one of her shoulders, smiling at her. "Don't worry though, they're all professionals, I'm sure they're fine. In fact I'm pretty sure they're on their way here right now", he reassured her. Lindsay looked back at him, chuckling slightly._

"_You're right sir, I shouldn't worry so much", she said. Archer patted her the back, walking past her as he did so._

"_Good to hear. I'll make sure to inform you if we get any news on their whereabouts", he told her. _

"_Thank you sir", she said. He nodded, before continuing his walk along the defences, allowing her to return to her thoughts._

'_What was I thinking, of course they'll be okay', she thought. They had survived worse on Reach only a few months ago, so being separated for a few days really wasn't that bad once she thought about it. Besides, she had been with her squad for long enough to know they were more than capable of surviving on their own. _

'_We are badasses after all', she thought, grinning to herself. Though this fact was true, all of them were great soldiers in their own way, and not just when it came to combat too. _

_Archer was a natural leader, capable of inspiring even the most disheartened of soldiers with ease. He had guided the squad through many a battle without losing a single one of his squad mates, to which all of them were thankful for. And despite being the oldest in the squad, at the age of 32, he was still a very capable soldier, one that shouldn't be underestimated. _

_Drew may not be as inspiring a leader as Archer, but he more than makes up for it with his medical expertise. He has saved many lives over the 8 years he has been fighting for the UNSC, including his fellow squad members. And though Drew's speciality was in the medical, and he was almost as old as the Captain, aged 30, he could still kick just as much Covenant ass as the rest of his squad._

_Aleski was the youngest member of the squad, aged only 20, and had only joined it about a year ago. That didn't mean he was to be underestimated though, because his marksmanship more than made up for his lack of experience. Ever since he had joined the squad, he had proved himself to be one of the best snipers in UNSC, with over 300 sniper kills to his name. _

_Shawn was by far the least serious member of the squad, always making a smartass remark about something. Though this could be annoying a lot of the time, his light-hearted attitude often cheered the squad up, even if it was just him trying to be a smartass again. He was certainly no slouch in the fighting department though, often carrying the heaviest weapons in the squad, such as rocket launchers and machine guns. _

_Will joined the squad about 2 years ago, at the same time as Shawn, making them both two of the more inexperienced members of the squad. While Will was just as good a shot as most of squad, what he really excelled at was close quarters combat. There he could use his Energy Katana, to which he was extremely skilled at using, to the best of its ability. In fact he was so skilled at it he had never been beaten in a fight, not even by an Elite._

_And finally there was Lindsay herself. Despite being one of the younger members of the squad, aged 22, she was one of the more experienced members of it too, having been in it for 3 years. Much like Will, she specialised in close quarters combat, but unlike him she did not have a special weapon to use. Not that she needed to have one; she was much more skilled at using her bare hands than anything else. She aced her close combat training, and had received black belts in numerous forms of martial arts._

_Lindsay chuckled. There really was no need to worry when she thought about it that way. Still, she missed them all, even Shawn, and hoped they would all return quickly. They were her friends after all. Besides, she knew that while they may be great soldiers by themselves, they were nowhere near as good as they were when they were all together, fighting as one squad._

"_Typical female, focusing on meaningless thoughts instead of doing your job." That all too familiar voice stirred Lindsay from her thoughts. She turned to see a tall Elite in dark blue armour several metres behind her, a confident smirk on his face. She could tell by armour he wore that he was a Major. She sighed._

"_Why do you have to annoy me now Ygar, I was in a good mood", she asked him. _

"_You being here annoys me, I thought I'd just return the feeling", he told her. Lindsay frowned at him. _

"_What is your problem with me? All you've done since you've arrived here is insult me for no reason", she asked. Ygar crossed his arms, leaning against the barricade._

"_I have my reasons", he answered. She snorted, looking at him with a bemused expression_

"_Oh really? Well do tell, because right now I'm kind of confused as to what I've done so wrong that makes you want to insult me every time you see me", she said._

"_You don't belong here", he told her. She stared at him with a surprised expression, completely caught off guard by what he had said._

"_I don't belong here, what the hell is that suppose mean?! If anything I have even more reason to be here than you! This is my planet if you haven't forgotten!" she replied angrily. _

"_I meant you shouldn't be fighting, it's a man's job. You should be doing a job more suited to your gender", he said. Lindsay stared at him for a few seconds, before replying._

"_You're shitting me right; that is what you're so annoyed about?" she asked, before laughing, "What, were you born in the 1800's or something? Nobody even thinks like that anymore." Ygar growled at her._

"_All Sangheili think like that, it is our tradition and the way we have been brought up", he told her. Lindsay sighed, shaking her head._

"_I feel sorry for your women, it must be hell for them having males as simple minded as you", she said. She would have expected Ygar to get angry at her after saying that, but to her surprise he chuckled instead._

"_You remind of the female in our lance, Faye 'Sumee. Like you she doesn't respect tradition or the superior word of a male", he told her._

"_Well good on her for standing up to assholes like you", she said, "At least the rest of the Elites here know how to keep their opinions to themselves, instead of trying to force them upon others like you." Ygar snorted._

"_Only because they believe this alliance to be of importance to our kind, something I don't agree with. I mean, how dare the Arbiter force us into an alliance with a species as weak as yours, you will do nothing but hold us back! We could have easily beaten the Covenant by ourselves, we do need the help of a species that allows women into their military!" he shouted. Lindsay snorted. _

"_You're such a hypocrite, you just said you had a female in your lance", she reminded him. _

"_She was only recruited because we were being commanded by the Covenant at the time, if she was to try now she would never get in! Even now she is pretty much an outcast to our society, never to be accepted as a mate by any male!" Ygar shouted, get angrier and angrier with Lindsay. _

"_Yer, well at least she isn't some sexist asshole who takes his species out dated traditions way too seriously", she replied. Ygar growled, moving towards her._

"_Do not insult my species traditions you bitch!" he roared. Lindsay quickly dived out of the way, dodging the Elites fist as it was swung at her. She quickly picked herself up, turning back to face Ygar._

"_I wasn't insulting your tradition, I was insulting you", she told him. He growled, trying to punch her again, but she easily dodged the attack, "My my, you do have quite the temper don't you?" Ygar roared._

"_Fight me, or are all female Humans cowards?!" he asked her. Lindsay growled, raising her fists._

"_Fine, I'll fight you, but only because I want to do the women of Sanghelios a favour and pound that ugly face of yours to a bloody pulp", she said. Ygar didn't reply, instead charging at the ODST before him. _

_Lindsay was once again forced to jump out of the way of the incoming Elite. While she was certainly strong by Human standards, there was no way she could beat an Elite that was 2 feet taller than her in a head on fight. Not that the size difference worried her too much, she had fought many Elites before in hand to hand combat, so had a decent idea of what to do. _

_Ygar came at Lindsay again, throwing several powerful punches in an attempt to hit her. One benefit to the size difference was that Lindsay was far more agile than Ygar, and could easily dodge his wild attempts to hit her. She quickly leaned backwards, barely dodging another punch._

'_Shit, I need to be more careful', she thought as she staggered back a bit. Without her helmet on, a punch like that could knock her out with relative ease, and she did not want to unconscious when there was an angry Elite nearby. She quickly jumped back as the Elite tried to grab her, before delivering her own punch to his face. Ygar shook his head a bit, before roaring in anger._

'_Well that didn't do as much as I had hoped', she thought. She was caught off guard as Ygar quickly closed the distance between them, before kicking her in the abdomen. She was sent flying into the barricade behind her, before falling to the ground. She coughed several times, having just had the wind taken out of her. She was sure he would have broken a few of her ribs if it weren't for her armour. Ygar chucked, slowly walking towards her._

"_You think you can beat me? I have killed many of your kind before without breaking so much as sweat. I've even managed to kill one of your Spartans before, the best your species has to offer, so do you really think a simple soldier like you can defeat me?" he asked her. She pulled herself up, albeit slowly, before looking up at the Elite._

"_And I have killed many of your kind before, so don't underestimate me for a second", she said before punching Ygar as hard as she could in his abdomen. He keeled over slightly, holding his abdomen in pain. Lindsay then brought her kneed him in the crotch, causing him to yelp out in pain and fall to his knees. She took a step back, before spinning on her left leg and roundhouse kicking him in the head with her right. He was send crashing to the ground face first, grunting in pain. Lindsay smirked, dusting herself off._

"_That's what you get for being a sexist pig", she told him. He didn't move for a second, and she started to worry she might of accidently killed him. That thought came to a crashing halt as Ygar quickly pulled himself onto his knees, and before she could react, he delivered a powerful uppercut to her chin._

_She could have sworn she felt some teeth loosen as she flew through the air, before crashing back down onto the hard concrete below. She coughing up a bit of blood from her mouth, she tried to pull herself up again, only for Ygar to put his foot on her chest, pushing her back down._

"_You will pay for that you bitch", he told her, as he moved his right hand backwards. Lindsay could of sworn she saw him moving it towards his Energy sword, but she never got the chance to find out. _

"_What the hell is going on here!?" both of them heard. They turned to see Captain Lovitz and an Elite in White coloured Ultra class armour. Lindsay recognised him as Vito 'Zamamee, the Elite lance leader who had been on the Swiftsure. Behind them were several Elites and Marines, who stared at them with varying expressions from confusion to fear. Ygar quickly took his foot off Lindsay, before bowing. As he did so, Archer quickly moved over to Lindsay, helping her up._

"_Are you okay?" he asked her. She nodded, wiping some blood of her lips, before glaring at the still bowing form of Ygar._

"_Sir, I can explain", he said before pointing at Lindsay, "This female was insulting our species and our tradition; she needed to be taught a lesson." _

"_I don't care what she did, you attacked her and put our entire alliance in jeopardy, an alliance we need as much as they do!" Vito said angrily. _

"_But sir-"_

"_Get out of my sight, we will talk about this later", he ordered. Ygar looked stunned for a second, before bowing again. As he left, he glared straight at Lindsay, who was only too happy to glare back at him. Once Ygar had left, Vito turned to the two ODST's, "I apologise for my second in commands behaviour, he's not a huge fan of your species." Lindsay snorted._

"_You don't say?" she said sarcastically. Archer quickly stepped in front of her, smiling sheepishly._

"_What Lindsay means to say is she also apologises for the disturbance and it won't happen again", he told Vito. The Elite nodded._

"_Good, make sure it doesn't", he said before leaving. The group of Elites and Marines who had been watching quickly returned to their posts as well. Happy that everyone was now gone, Archer sighed, before turning back to Lindsay, who was rubbing her chin. He crossed his arms._

"_What do you think you're doing?" he asked in an exasperated tone. She stopped rubbing her chin, looking back at him._

"_Rubbing my chin, it still hurts", she replied. Archer face-palmed, sighing again._

"_No not that, I mean what do you think you're doing picking fights with Elites, they're our allies", he asked her again. _

"_I didn't intent to start a fight with him, he came over to me and started being all sexist and it eventually got out of hand", she told him. He raised an eyebrow at her._

"_Oh really, and you had nothing to do with it getting out of hand?" he asked. Lindsay blushed slightly._

"_I may have aggravated him slightly", she admitted. Archer sighed, putting one of his hands on her shoulder._

"_Look, I know you're not a huge fan of what the Elites believe in, but we need this alliance. Just promise me you won't get into anymore fights", he said. Lindsay sighed, before nodding._

"_Okay sir, I promise", she said. He smiled._

"_Thank you. Now that's out of the way I can get on to the real reason I came to find you, and that was to tell you I just got through to Drew and Aleski", he told her. Lindsay instantly brightened up at the news._

"_Really, where are they?" she asked him. _

"_Not more than a few miles away, hopefully they'll be here by tomorrow", he said, before sighing, "Still no word from Will or Shawn though, but they shouldn't be too far away now." Lindsay smiled._

"_Thank you for the news sir", she said. Archer nodded, before leaving her to return to her thoughts once again._

_If Lindsay was being honest, it was bittersweet news. She was happy to hear that Drew and Aleski would soon be back with them, but at the same time there had been no news on the whereabouts of Shawn or Will, and she was starting to worry again, especially for Will._

"_Remember what the Captain said, he'll be fine", she reassured herself. She hated worrying about him when she knew he could look after himself, but she couldn't help it, she cared too much. She took a deep breath, before putting her helmet back on._

'_I promise that as soon as I see Will, I will tell him everything, and nobody is going to stop me from doing so.'_

Faye snorted, "Typical Ygar, he is the worst of them. The others can actually keep their opinions to themselves most of the time, whereas he just likes to express them whenever he can", she told them. Natasha grimaced.

"Well, I'll be sure to stay away from him then", she said. Archer looked back at the squad, pointing to the entrance to ONI headquarters.

"Don't bring it up now, Vito is waiting for us", he told them. The squad looked to where he was pointing, and saw the Elite Ultra waiting for them.

"Ah, Captain Lovitz, you have returned, and with more mouths to feed. You do realise we're starting to run low on food?" he asked.

"I do, but these guys are than worth the loss in food", Archer said, "Plus, I've returned your missing lance members." Thon and Faye quickly stepped up, saluting the Ultra in front of them.

"Major Thon 'Sumee and Minor Faye 'Sumee reporting for duty sir", Thon said.

"At ease, it is good to see both of you", Vito said, before looking at Faye, "Even if I don't agree with some of you being here." Will quickly stepped up before anything else could be said, now directly in front of the much taller Elite.

"That's unfair and you know it! I may not have known Faye for long, but ever since she's been with us she has been a valuable squad member. She has even saved her asses more than once, so I'd like it if you showed her a little more respect", he said. Faye was touched by Will's attempts to defend her, even though she knew they would come to nothing.

"I respect that, but you cannot change my opinion on the matter, so don't try it", he said before looking back at Thon. "Major 'Sumee, I expect a report from you as soon as possible", he said before leaving.

"What the hell Will?! I just told you not to bring it up and what do you do, you bring it up right in front of their leaders face. You're lucky he is not as fanatical as Ygar, or else he probably would have killed you where you stood!" Archer shouted once Vito had left.

"I'm sorry sir, I had to do it. He shouldn't be allowed to talk to her like that", Will argued.

"Yer, don't shout at Will for it, it wasn't his fault", Shawn defended him. Archer sighed.

"You can't just tell them it's wrong to say that, 'cause it's the way they have been brought up. Look, I don't like it as much as you do, but if you keep this out we're going to end up tearing this alliance apart, and both species need this alliance. Do you understand what I'm trying to tell you?" he asked. There was silence for a few seconds, before Will sighed.

"Okay sir, we'll ignore it for now", he said. Archer looked back at the rest of the squad, who all nodded in agreement. His facial expression softened.

"I'm glad to hear that", he said, before rubbing his hands together, "You guys should go inside and get warm. There's is food being served in the mess hall and ammunition in the armoury if you need it. I want you all to meet back here in an hour, when me and Vito will discuss the defence plan we have set up."

"Thank you sir", Will said. Archer nodded, before looking at Drew.

"Oh and Drew, if I could borrow you for a minute, I need your report on the past few days", Lovitz said.

"Of course sir", Drew replied as both of them began to walk off. Shawn grinned at the rest of the group, rubbing his hands together.

"I don't know about you guys, but I think I'm gonna check this armoury out first. I hear places like this always have a large selection of badass weapons, and I'm gonna go see if there are any I like", he said, before quickly running off. Natasha rolled her eyes.

"I better go with him, otherwise he might blow something up", she said, chasing after him.

"Well, I heard the Captain say something about food back there, anyone want to come get some with me?" Aleski asked. Thon chuckled

"I will join you, I am absolutely starving right now", he said, before turning to his sister and Will, "What about you two?"

"We'll catch up with you brother, I just want to talk to Will about something", Faye told him. He nodded.

"Okay then, I will see you there", he said, before him and Aleski starting making their way towards the mess hall, leaving Will and Faye all alone. Faye looked around, making sure the coast was clear, before hugging Will tightly, much to his surprise.

"Thank you", she said quietly.

"For what?" he asked her.

"For trying to defend me back there, I really appreciate it", she said. He smiled at her, reciprocating the hug.

"You're welcome, you didn't deserve it anyway", he told her.

"I'm use to it, don't worry. Besides, with you at my side there's no way they can keep me down forever", she said, before sighing, "I just wish we could be more open about our feelings to our fellow squad members." Will smiled cupping one of her cheeks in his hand, stroking it with his fingers.

"Don't worry; all you have to do is be friendly with them. Talk them, get know them, and tell them about yourself. I'll do the same with your brother and a few of the Elites. Then when we know they like us, we can tell them", he told her.

"You think that will work? They might not even like me", she said. Will kissed her lightly on the cheek, making her blush slightly.

"Of course they will. I like you, and so does Shawn and Natasha, so why wouldn't they?" he asked. Faye sighed, nuzzling him.

"Okay, I'll give it a shot", she said. He smiled, releasing her from the embrace.

"Thank you, you'll love them anyway. Now we should probably get to the mess hall. Your brother is probably worrying about how long we're taking, and I don't know about you, but I am starving", he told her. Faye was about to respond, when her stomach growled.

"It appears I am hungry too", she said, blushing once again. He laughed.

"Follow me then", he said, entering the building. Faye quickly followed, thinking about what Will had said as she did so.

'_Making friends with Will's squad, that shouldn't be too difficult, right?'_ she asked herself. She was a bit nervous; she'd never had many friends to begin with, especially after she had joined the military. _'Still, if they're friends of Will's, they must be nice people. I really shouldn't worry so much'_, she told herself. She trusted Will, and if he trusted his squad mates, that was more than enough for her.

**Well, that all happened. Some of you may not be understanding my madness here, but it is all planned, so don't worry ;)**

**Anyway, I hope you enjoyed that, more chapters are on the way **


	18. Lunch and Memories

**I suppose you're all wondering why I updated so quickly, well allow me to explain. While looking over this chapter, I realised that one of my flashbacks was far too large to be put in it, so I decided to split it up again. I did this because it would be unfair on you guys to have two flashbacks in one chapter, especially given the size of the second one. **

**Anyway, I hope you all enjoy this chapter**

**Chapter 18**

**London, UK, Earth**

**November 16****th**** 2552. 14:17 hours**

It only took them a few minutes to reach the mess hall, and as they entered, they were greeted by an intoxicating smell, one which Faye had never smelt before.

"What is that smell?" she asked Will. He grinned at her.

"That is real Human food. Not bullshit rations, but real, edible food", he told her. She took another sniff, before smiling at him.

"It smells really good. Does it taste as good as it smells?" she asked him.

"Better", he answered, looking around the room as he did so. It was relatively empty, with only a few Marines scattered around various tables. Will checked the time on his clock and found out why.

'_14:18, talk about a late lunch. Still, better late than never'_, he thought to himself. After a few more seconds of looking, he found Aleski and Thon, sitting on a table not far from them. He tapped Faye on her shoulder, drawing her attention.

"Go sit with your brother and Aleski over there, I'll get some food for us", he said, pointing at the table. She nodded, moving towards the table as Will went off in search of food. She took a seat next to her brother, taking her helmet off as she did so and placing it down by her legs. Her brother looked at her as he was eating

"You certainly took your time, what were you and your friend talking about?" Thon asked in between bites. Faye blushed slightly.

"N-nothing you'd find interesting brother. Anyway, how's the food?" she asked, trying to change the subject. It seemed to work as Thon shrugged, looking at his food.

"It's nice, tastes better than the rations we're given. The meat tastes kind of familiar though", he told her.

"It's Chicken, everything tastes like Chicken", Aleski told them. Will moved next to Faye as they talked, handing her some food as he did so. She smiled at him.

"Thank you", she said, before taking a bite, "You're right Thon, it is very nice." Will smiled.

"Good, I was worried you might not like it, being from a different planet and all", he said.

"Our species have some similarities, though other Sangheili would not admit that", Thon told them.

"Why not?" Will asked him.

"We consider most species to be inferior to us, especially in terms of culture and fighting skill. That means not a lot of Sangheili would like to draw similarities between our race and one considered inferior, like yourself", he explained.

"Do you think we are inferior?" Aleski asked. Thon grinned.

"No, I've seen enough over the past four days to know you Humans can certainly match us in terms of fighting skill. I haven't learnt a lot about your culture yet, but I'm sure it will be to my liking", he said.

"We don't really have a species-wide culture. It really depends on what country or colony you look at", Aleski said.

"Neither do we. Like you, our species was once divided into several groups of people, known as clans. Each clan had their own culture, though we all shared four main beliefs; honour and respect are important and must be upheld, family is important, Forerunner's are sacred and are not to be tampered with, although we were forced to go against that belief after the war with the Prophets, and women are sacred", he told them. Will raised an eyebrow.

"You think women are sacred? Then why was Vito talking to Faye the way he did back there?" he asked.

"Though females are considered inferior to males, they are still to be respected. They raise our next of kin and prepare them for adulthood", he answered.

"It still doesn't explain why he was an asshole to Faye", Will said. Faye sighed.

"It is because I'm a soldier. My lance members do not give me respect because I don't fill the role they expect me to fill", she explained to him.

"So they disrespect you because in being a soldier, you put your ability to raise the next of kin at risk, correct?" Will asked, finally starting to understand. Faye nodded.

"It's a bit more complicated than that, but yes, you're correct", she said.

"I still don't agree with it. Women should be treated equally, and be allowed to make their own decisions", Will said.

"You have been brought up differently from us. If you had been born as a Sangheili, you would probably think like Vito or any of our other lance members", Thon argued.

"What about you though? You seem to think women are equal to men", Aleski said. Thon chuckled.

"I grew up with Faye, she changed my views on the matter", he said.

"What do you mean?" Will asked.

"I've always wanted to be soldier, even from an early age", Faye told them, "Our father was one before we were even born, so we didn't get to see him much. But when he came back on leave, we would sit up all night listening to the stories he had to tell us. Listening to him talk about all the places he had been, and all the things he had done to protect our race, it made me want to be like him. I didn't tell my father though; he believed very strongly in tradition and would have never allowed me to think such things. So I went to my mother instead. At first she was against it, saying it was not how Sangheili women behaved. But as you all know, I can be very stubborn, especially when I want something, and eventually she caved in."

"What, just like that?" Aleski asked. Faye shook her head.

"It took about seven years to get that far, by which time I was already 18 years old. Besides, it wasn't as if this was something new, many females before me had expressed a desire to get into the military, though few ever did", she answered.

"Seven years is a long time. Still, why did your mother cave in after all that time?" Will asked.

"Because she wanted me to be happy, and she could see the only way that would happen was if I became a soldier. She never fully agreed with it, but she respected my decision", she told them.

"I think we're getting away from the main question, which is how did you manage to change Thon's views on women?" Aleski asked. Faye was about to answer, when Thon stopped her.

"I'll tell them sis", he told her, before looking at them, "When our mother finally accepted Faye's decision, she asked me to train her, since the military would not except her unless she had exceptional fighting skills. At the time I was like my father, and didn't agree with my sister's decision. But I had to respect my mother's wishes, and agreed to train her. At the time I was in training myself, so whatever I learned I could teach her", he said.

"So how did you go from being like your father, to treating her as an equal?" Will asked.

"It started not long after her training began. At first I was sceptical about her abilities, but as the weeks went on she proved to be a quick learner, and had developed some impressive skills. However, almost a two years after we had started, she challenged me to a fight. This wasn't the first one, we had had many before hand, all of which I had won. I assumed this one would have the same outcome this time, but it didn't..."

_**Sanghelios**_

_**June 15**__**th**__** 2550. 18:45 hours**_

_**(Faye aged 20, Thon aged 22)**_

_The hot evening's sun illuminated the field as the two Sangheili teenagers stood apart, ten metres between them. Each was fully clothed in Minor armour; Faye's a golden colour, while Thon's was a more traditional light blue. Thon's amour had been given to him by the Covenant military, whereas Faye was using her father's old armour, which had proved to very uncomfortable for her at first. After a few 'alterations' (consisting of hitting the armour over and over again till it fit her more womanly figure) though, that no longer became a problem, allowing Faye to focus more on the task now at hand._

"_You do realise the outcome of this battle will be the same as it has been the past 54 times?" Thon asked Faye. She smirked back at him._

"_Your overconfidence will be your downfall brother, I will beat you this time", she replied._

"_As well trained as you are, you will never be able to beat me", he told her. She knew what he meant, and rolled her eyes._

"_Mother is right, you sound more and more like father every day", she said._

"_I'll take that as a compliment", he replied. Faye sighed._

"_Thon, we've been training for almost a year now. I've shown you that I can fight just as well as any Sangheili male, maybe even better. When are you going to start treating me like an equal?" she asked._

"_When you prove you are one", he answered._

"_And how am I meant to do that" she asked him. He grinned._

"_By beating me little sis", he told her. She grinned back._

"_You're on", she said in a determined voice. _

_Silence reigned once more as the Sangheili circled each other, waiting for the perfect moment to strike. Neither carried weapons, as they couldn't do so outside of a Covenant training facility, so they opted to use their fists instead. It would seem weird to most, seeing Thon use his fists on his sister, but it was Faye who had requested he do so. After all, a Human soldier or one of those so called demons certainly wouldn't think twice before trying to hit her, so why not train for such an eventuality?_

_Faye was the first to move, spurred on by her new found determination. She ran at her brother, quickly covering the ten metre gap, before trying to tackle him. He quickly side stepped at the last second, extending his left leg out at the same time. It worked perfectly, and not only did he dodge her attack, he also tripped her up, causing her to fall to the floor. He shook his head._

"_Haven't I taught you better than that? You need to be patience, let your opponent make the first move", he told her. She picked herself of the ground, turning to face him._

"_That's kind of hard to do when your opponent opts for the same strategy", she said, coming at him again. She launched a fist at his face, but he easily caught it. She tried to use her other fist, but he caught that one as well._

"_Then wait until there is a gap in their defences", he said, before head butting her. He released her hands, allowing her to stumble back, before kicking her in the chest, sending her to the ground once. Faye coughed a few times, pulling herself up. She cursed herself mentally, she was better than this and she knew it. _

_It was Thon's turn to attack, coming at her with his right fist swinging. She blocked the swing, before hitting him in the face with her own right hand. He stumbled back, shaking his head. She pressed her advantage, punching him in the stomach, causing him to keel over. She then roundhouse kicked him in the head, sending him flying into the ground._

"_You mean like that?" she asked, grinned down at him. _

"_Yes, that's about right", he replied. He recovered quickly, rolling out the way as Faye tried to pin him with her foot. He then kicked his leg out, taking Faye's feet out from under her, sending her crashing to the ground._

'_Shit' she internally cursed. She rolled over, trying to get back up again. Thon didn't give her a chance to however, and tackled her to the ground, before pinning her body underneath his. He smirked down at her._

"_I believe this makes 55 failed attempts at beating me", he told her. Faye tried to move her arms, but they were stuck under his knees, like the rest of her body. Well almost, but it seemed that in his rush to pin her down he had forgotten to pin all of her down. _

"_I haven't lost yet", she said. He chuckled._

"_Oh really, and how do you intend to get out of this?" he asked her in a bemused voice. She grinned up at him._

"_Like this", she said, before kneeing him in the back. He fell forward, and in doing so released her arms from under him. She quickly put them to good use, hitting him hard in face with her left, before hitting him in the stomach with her right, taking the wind out of him. He tried to pull himself off her, but she grabbed him by his chest armour, pulling him onto his knees again. She then hit him in the face three times, before drawing her legs up from underneath him and delivering a hard kick to his chest, sending him flying off her, landing on the ground a few metres away. He tried to get up, but Faye was quicker, tackling him to the ground. She then pinned him like he had pinned her only seconds ago, but unlike him she made sure his legs were pinned too._

"_Well, this is quite the role reversal", he said._

"_Indeed it is, now yield", she said. _

"_I yield", he said. This took her by surprise, she had expected him to try and fight back. Her surprise was quickly replaced by joy however when she realised she had finally beaten her brother. She jumped off him, laughing._

"_I won, I finally beat you!" she said. He sat up, wiping a bit of blood of his mandible, before smiling up at her._

"_You sure did, my equal", he said. She stopped her celebrations, looking at him with wide eyes._

"_Y-you really mean that? You think of me as an equal now?" she asked him. He chuckled, pulling himself up again._

"_Faye, I've valued you as an equal for months now, ever since you proved just how great a warrior you can be", he admitted._

"_T-then why didn't you tell me?" she asked, unsure whether to be happy or angry with him at this point._

"_Because you weren't ready for the military then. Think about how much harder you trained, trying to prove yourself as an equal to me each day. If I had told you that months ago, do you really think you'd have trained as hard?" he asked her._

"_No", she said, before hugging her brother tightly, "Thank you brother, for everything." He chuckled, hugging her back._

"_It was my pleasure", he said, "Now come on, we have to make you presentable."_

"_For what?" Faye asked, confused what he meant._

"_For tomorrow, when you sign up to the military", he said. _

"_Y-you think I'm ready?" she asked, genuinely surprised._

"_You just beat me in hand to hand combat, I'm the best in my lance", he said._

"_But how do you know they'll accept me?" she asked._

"_I'm a Major; I'll throw in a good word for you", he said. She smiled, tear welling up in her eyes, before hugging him even tighter than before._

"_Thank you, thank you, thank you", she said over and over again._

"_Okay, okay, I get it. Now could you please loosen your grip on me, it's really starting to hurt!" he said. She pulled out of the hug, blushing._

"_Oops. Sorry, I didn't mean to hurt you. I'm just really happy!" she said._

"_It's okay. Now come, mother will want to hear the good news", he said. She nodded, quickly following him as they left the field, a noticeable spring in her step._

"So you valued her as an equal for months and didn't tell her?" Will asked once Thon had finished his story.

"I know it sounds like I was being a bit of a douche bag, but I wanted to make sure she was ready for the military before telling her. Otherwise she might not have trained as hard as she did", he explained. Will shrugged.

"Well, you did put aside your traditional values and trained for two years, I certainly can't hate you for that", he said. Faye smiled at her brother.

"And I will always be grateful for everything you did for me", she said. Thon smiled back at her.

"So what about other females? How did you come to treat them as equals?" Aleski asked.

"Well once I started treating Faye as an equal, it was kind of hard not to do the same with the others. It felt unfair treating a Faye like an equal, yet not another female like our mother, so I decided I would treat everyone as equals", he answered.

"I bet the rest of your lance weren't too pleased about that", Aleski said. Thon shook his head.

"They weren't, especially when Faye joined, but I didn't care. They couldn't do anything to me or Faye anyway, we were much better fighters than they were", he told them.

"So what about your parents, how did they take the news?" Will asked.

"Our mother took the news pretty well. I could tell she still wasn't too fond of my decision, but she said she was happy for me", Faye answered.

"What about your father?" Will asked. Thon shook his head.

"At this point we hadn't seen him for three years. He is presumed dead", he told them.

"I'm sorry to hear that", Will said.

"It's okay, we knew there was always a chance he wouldn't come back, just like there's a chance it could happen to us now", Thon said. Will nodded, before looking at Faye.

"Thon said you wore your fathers armour when you were training, do you still wear it now?" he asked. She nodded, looking down at her golden armour.

"Yes. A few parts have been replaced due to damage in combat, but most of the original parts are still there", she said, before sighing, "I wear it to honour him, even though he probably wouldn't have been happy knowing that I was a soldier." It took all of Will's willpower not to hug her right there and then. He could see talking about her father saddened her, and he really wanted to comfort her, but he knew doing so would almost certainly give away their relationship.

'_Don't worry; we'll be able to tell them soon enough"_, he told himself. It seemed that she had already made a good impression on Aleski, and he was sure the rest of his squad would soon follow. That would just leave him to make friends with her brother, which he was sure he could do.

It was at this point Shawn burst through the door, followed by Natasha.

"You know most people just open the door", she told him. He ignored her, sniffing the air, before smiling.

"You smell that? It smells so good! For once I'm actually looking forward to food provided by the UNSC" he said.

"I'll admit, it does smell very nice", she said. She went to get some food, but Shawn stopped her.

"Don't worry, I'll get it for you", he told her. She blushed slightly.

"Thanks", she said, making her way over to the others. So took a seat next to Will, breathing a sigh of relief as she did so.

"Tired?" Aleski asked. She nodded, removing her helmet.

"As much as I like the guy, Shawn can be real tiresome sometimes, especially when he's around big guns", she told them. Will chuckled.

"Yer, he'll do that to you", he said.

"You guys spent over 20 minutes down there, did you find anything good?" Aleski asked.

"Oh yes, but Shawn made me promise not to tell you what we found", she said. Will sighed.

"And why did he do that?" Will asked.

"Because it's a surprise!" Shawn said as he appeared out of nowhere, causing several of them to jump in fright.

"Why can't you just tell us now?" Will asked him. Shawn sat down, grinning at the others as he handed Natasha her food.

"Because that would be the boring way to do it, and I don't do boring", he replied, before rubbing his hands together, "So, what did you guys talk about while we were gone?"

"Well Thon told us a story about how he came to treat Faye as an equal", Will answered him.

"Oh, I love stories! Let me tell the next one, please!" Shawn begged.

"What story could you possibly tell that we would all enjoy?" Faye asked. Shawn grinned.

"Oh don't worry, I've got one you'll all love to hear", he said, motioning for the others to come closer to him, "This is the story of how two unassuming Marines came to be the badasses you know today. One was a smart, handsome guy, who was a total hit with the ladies, and the other was Will."

"Hey!" Will shouted. Shawn grinned, but decided not to reply.

"This is a story filled with action, comedy, and sheer badassery. This is the story of my first mission with Will", he finally finished. There was a few seconds of silence, before Faye spoke up.

"Was that intro really necessary?" she asked him.

"Yes, yes it was", he told her, before turning back to the rest of the group, "Now children, sit back, grab a beer, and hold on tight, 'cause this is gonna be a good one..."

**I hope you enjoyed that, next up will be that big flashback I was talking about. Oh and don't worry, that thing I was talking about in chapter 16, it's still gonna happen, I've just pushed it back a little bit so we can have some character development. **

**Anyway, hope you enjoyed that, more updates are on the way**


	19. Story time

**Your eyes do not deceive you my friend, this is indeed an chapter, and not one my pointless updates.**

**Speaking of updates, I got a few replies for my art request. A guy on deviant art called HWPD is currently working on it, and I am very happy with what he has done so far. I'd like to thank Ny'Kle for suggesting him, and Konner N7 for offering as well :D**

**The fan art itself is of Faye holding a Carbine in the streets of London. I've already seen the uncoloured version, and I am very happy with it. I won't show you guys just yet, 'cause I want you to see the complete version ;)**

**Anyway, onto the chapter itself. I know I've had a lot of flashbacks recently, and this chapter is completely flashback, but I promise there isn't much left. There's still the 1000 or so words which ends this flashback next chapter, and then another, quite important one in a few chapters time, but apart from that you're in the clear.**

** Finally, I'd like to apologise if this chapter isn't to my regular standards, I've been very busy with college, and it has distracted me quite a few times.**

**Anyway, enough rambling from me, please enjoy the biggest chapter to date ;)**

**Chapter 19**

_**Verent, UNSC colony**_

_**March 26**__**th**__** 2548. 12:47 hours**_

_**(Shawn aged 19, Will aged 19)**_

_A formation of six Pelicans flew through the skies of Verent, escorted by three Sparrorhawk attack VTOL's. Ahead of them lay their destination, New Khartoum, the colonies capital. Floating a few hundred metres above the city was a UNSC Frigate, there to protect it and evacuate the remaining civilians. Covenant forces had already begun their invasion of the colony, but had failed to glass it yet due to stiff UNSC opposition and a whole lot of luck, though both could only last for so long._

_Inside one of the Pelicans, a squad of 15 Marines, 5 of which had to stand up due to the lack of seats, prepared for their mission. Most of them had previous combat experience before, but there were a few new recruits among them. Two such Marines were Will and Shawn, who were on their first mission together, their training only having ended two week prior. Despite the fact Shawn could be very annoying sometimes; they had quickly become friends during their time together, best friends even. Then again, neither of them had really had many friends to begin with, because Will usually liked to keep to himself (especially after what happened on his home world), and Shawn because, well because he was Shawn._

_The two friends didn't normally sit in silence, but they didn't really want to talk right now. They were too focused on mentally preparing themselves for the mission and what it may bring._

_The leader of the squad, a Sergeant called John Bartlett, turned to face his men. He wore an NCO cap, which made it easy for everyone to distinguish him as the squad's leader. _

"_Listen up Marines! In case you've forgotten our earlier debrief, here's the rundown. Verent has pretty much been lost, the Covenant have arrived here in force and we cannot fight them off. Now our mission is simple, get to New Khartoum, protect the civilians, and cover the Pelicans as they extract them. We don't have all day to do this, the Covenant ships are fast approaching, and our ships can only hold them off for a few hours at most, so we need to get this done as quickly and as cleanly as we can. Understood?" he asked them._

"_Sir Yes sir!" the Marines shouted in reply. Sergeant Bartlett then turned his attention to Shawn._

"_Shawn Walters, I better not hear any of those smartass remarks your superiors have been telling me about, otherwise it won't be the Covenant you have to worry about today", he told Shawn. Shawn rolled his eyes, before sighing._

"_Yes sir", he said. Will elbowed him when the Sergeant looked somewhere else, drawing his attention._

"_You're not really gonna stop with the smartass remarks, are you?" he asked. Shawn turned to his friend, grinning._

"_Of course not, why? Were you going to miss it?" he asked teasingly. Will snorted._

"_No, but I'll admit it would have been slightly off-putting not to hear you say them", he admitted, "Though the Sergeant is right in some ways, you could be more serious at times."_

"_But I don't need to be serious, I have you for that. Think about it, we are like the perfect balance. I provide the light-hearted, comedic attitude for when we're not in action, and you provide the serious, responsible attitude for when we are. We're the perfect team", Shawn told him. Will chuckled. _

"_I hate it when you're right, it really doesn't help that big ego of yours", he said. Before Shawn could reply, the co-pilot appeared from the cockpit, drawing everyone's attention._

"_Thirty seconds till we land guys, be ready", he told the marines._

"_What does the landing zone look like?" Sergeant Bartlett asked._

"_It's clear for now sir, but we've got reports that the Covenant are amassing for another attack. Once you're down there, you'll need to report the ODST's in charge. They'll be in a church not far from the landing zone", he told the Sergeant, before returning to the cockpit._

_The Pelican formation began its descent towards the city below, Sparrowhawks closely following them. The landing zone was a few hundred metres ahead of the extraction zone itself, which had a constant stream of Pelicans flying to it in order to pick up the civilians waiting there, before taking them to the waiting Frigate high above the city. Both zones lay within the city, the extraction zone being a large courtyard near the edge of the city, while the landing zone was a large road._

_The descent didn't last too long, and the Pelican formation soon landed in the landing zone. The three Sparrorhawks hovered above the landing zone, protecting the vulnerable Pelicans from any air attacks. As soon as the Pelicans had touched down, the doors at the back of them lifted up, allowing the Marines to disembark them. _

"_Everyone out now, we'll be back to pick you up when the evacuation is complete. Good luck out there", the pilot in Will and Shawn's Pelican called back to them. The squad quickly followed her instructions, getting off the Pelican, before the back doors were closed again. The Pelicans quickly took off, making their way over to the extraction zone, Sparrorhawks not far behind them._

_The squad quickly moved across the landing zone, joining up with the squads from the other Pelicans as they made their way towards the church the co-pilot had told them about. The church had been turned into a forward operations base of sorts, with many vehicles and soldiers gathered around it. One of the Marines who was guarding the church spotted the large group of Marines and waved them over._

"_Thank god you guys arrived, we were beginning to think you'd never show up", he said. _

"_Where are the ODST's in charge of this operation?" Sergeant Bartlett asked him. The Marine motioned to the church door behind him._

"_They're right in there, in the main the hall to be specific. It's the first door on the right, but you better hurry, you're late and they may have decided to start the briefing without you", he told them. The sergeant nodded, before walking past the Marine and entering the church, closely followed by the Marines. _

_As the Marines entered the hall, they discovered that it was worryingly empty, with only a two other Marine squads, and the ODST squad. One of the ODST's nudged their squad leader, drawing his attention to the Marines that had just arrived. He sighed in relief._

"_Well am I glad to see you guys. I'm Captain Sandel, ODST squad leader and acting commander of operations here, and we really need your help right about now", he said. _

"_It certainly looks like it. Where are the rest of the Marines, I thought there'd be more?" Sergeant Bartlett asked as he moved over to the table, the Marines right behind him. Sandel sighed, rubbing his bearded chin._

"_There was, but they never made it here. Apart from you guys and the two other Marine squads in here, there's only three other squad, who are already guarding the perimeter. And not all of the squads are full, in fact most of them are at half strength", he informed them._

"_Wait, we only have eleven Marine squads, five of which are undermanned, and an ODST squad to defend this place?!" Will asked, not quite believing what he was hearing. Sandel nodded._

"_I am afraid so. And to top it all off, most of the vehicles are out of fuel, and we won't be receiving any air support. The civilian extraction zone receives priority for that", he said. _

"_There's no way we can hold this place against an entire Covenant army", Will said. _

"_We don't need to hold this position, only defend it until all the civilians have been evacuated", Sandel told them._

"_And how long will that be?" Bartlett asked. Sandel picked up a piece of paper, reading it closely._

"_The last estimate was that it would take an hour at most", he said before putting the paper back on the table and sighing, "We received that message over two hours ago. I don't know what's going on over there, maybe it's the increase in Covenant air support or something, but whatever it is it's slowing down the extraction." _

"_So we don't know how long we'll have to stay here?" Will asked._

"_Not exactly, but I know we can't stay here for more than an hour. Any later than that, and the Covenant fleet will have broken through the UNSC ships defending this colony and begun glassing this world", the Captain told them, before sighing, "I guess we'll have to wait 'till we receive word from the Frigate. I know these aren't the best circumstances, but we have to do this." There was a few moments of silence, before Will spoke up._

"_What's the plan then sir?" he asked. Sandel smiled a bit before looking back down at the map in front of him. _

"_Right, the defensive perimeter is only 100 meters from the road where you landed. It's about 500 meters long, covers several buildings, and protects the extraction zone from any sort of ground attack. Now this is a large area to defend, so each squad is gonna have to cover about 50 meters each. There are already turrets set up along the perimeter, and I will be sending one ODST to support each squad. Now-" Sandel was interrupted as a Marine came bursting through the hall doors, drawing everyone's attention._

"_Sir, scouts have reported spotting a large Covenant force amassing about a mile off. It looks like they are preparing for an attack", he told the Captain._

"_Damn it, I hoped we would have more time", Sandel said, before looking up at the Marines, "You guys need to get to the perimeter now, my men will guide you to your designated positions. Good luck out there Marines; I hope to see you all on the other side." _

_**20 minutes later**_

_The rain started to come down hard as the squad held their position on the perimeter. They were guarding one of the larger roads between the buildings; there only cover being a makeshift barrier and a few abandoned cars. Shawn moaned loudly._

"_Why do we have to be outside in this shitty ass weather, while all the other squads get to be inside? It's not fair", he said._

"_It doesn't matter whether it was fair or not, this is where we were ordered to go. Besides, we aren't the only squad in this 'shitty ass weather', as you so subtlety put it, there are other squads who have to defend the roads too", Sergeant Bartlett told him._

"_You could have at least let me use the machine gun", he mumbled, glaring at the Marine who had taken it. Will stood next to him, tightly grasping his MA5B in his hands. Next to him stood the ODST assigned to the squad, known as Private Lincoln. He turned to look at Will, seeing something that bothered him._

"_Why do you have an Energy Katana? That's not standard Marine equipment", he asked. _

"_It's my father's sir; he gave it to me before he died. He got it back when he was an ODST", Will told him. The Private nodded._

"_Are you good with it?" he asked. _

"_My father liked to think so, and I have killed with it before, so probably", Will answered. Shawn snorted at his friends answer._

"_Probably, more like absolutely. You should see him with it; he's like a ninja or something. I bet he could beat an Elite Zealot in a sword fight with the skills he's got", he told the ODST. Will sighed._

"_Thanks Shawn, now everyone here is expecting me to prove myself", he said sarcastically._

"_Anytime buddy", Shawn said, winking at him. _

"_Shit! Banshee, get down!" Sergeant Bartlett ordered. The squad quickly got behind cover as the Banshee flew over head. Will pushed himself into his cover, tightly gripping his rifle as he watched the Banshee fly over head. It circled above them a couple times, before going back the way it came. With the coast now clear, the squad slowly stood back up, collectively breathing a sigh of relief._

"_Why didn't it shoot at us? It must of known we were here", one of the Marines said. _

"_It was a scout. It didn't come to attack us, it came to find out how well defended this position was", Lincoln told them, before loading his BR, "Get ready, they'll be here soon."_

_Silence reigned as the squad waited for the inventible arrival of the Covenant forces. The only sound that was could be heard came from the rain as it bounced armour and metal alike. The squad kept their guns pointed forward, remaining vigilant for any signs of movement. _

_The street was soon filled with a new sound, the distant echoes of Covenant vehicles starting up. To the squad of Marines it sounded almost eerie, like a howling ghost in the distance. All this added to the fear and anticipation being felt by the Marines, especially to the new recruits such as Will and Shawn. _

"_Is there any Covenant armour coming this way?" one of the Marines asked, breaking the relative silence._

"_Hopefully not, we don't have the heavy weapons necessary to deal with them", Sergeant Bartlett replied. Another minute of relative silence went by, and yet still no Covenant troops. The Marine on the machine gun groaned, turning to his Sergeant._

"_What the hell is taking them so long? I wish they'd just hurry up and get here already", he said. He turned back to look down the street, but was met only with a flash of purple as a Needler shot impacted him in the head, killing him instantly._

"_Zealots, take cover!" Lincoln shouted, firing his BR as a large force of Covenant troops appeared out of nowhere. Will peered over to see that Maverick was correct, there were at least three Zealots leading the attack, with a large group of Grunts, Jackals, Brutes and Elites behind them. Luckily there seemed to no armour, much to the squad's relief. _

_The squad returned fire, dropping several Grunts and Jackals that had been out in the open, before being forced back into cover by their enemy's superior numbers and firepower._

"_Sergeant Bartlett, how many do you think there are out there?" Lincoln asked him. Bartlett took a quick peek over the barricade, before quickly ducking down a second later as several plasma shots flew over head._

"_I couldn't get a good look! I think it's around fifty plus foot mobiles, maybe more and no visible armour!" Bartlett told him. Lincoln nodded, turning to Shawn. He pointed at the Marine, before pointing over to the machine gun._

"_You wanted that turret, it's all yours now! Get on it, and give those Covenant bastards a taste of their own medicine!" he ordered. Shawn grinned._

"_Hell, it's about time!" he shouted, grabbing the handles on the machine gun, "I've always wanted to do this..." He aimed it at the large group of Covenant troops, several shots bouncing off the machine guns cover as he did so. He smirked, pushing down on the trigger, starting to turn the barrels. "...say hello to my little friend!" _

_A fraction of a second later the machine gun began firing, unleashing a torrent of armour piercing rounds straight into the exposed Covenant troops. The Zealots quickly jumped out the way, sliding behind a car as their fellow soldiers came under heavy fire. The armour piercing rounds made short work of the Brute and Elite shields, and even shorter work of the unshielded Grunts, cutting a large number of them down. The rest of the force quickly split up; seeking any cover they could find, only to come under fire from the rest of the Marine squad._

"_Pour it on them, before they can get to cover!" Private Lincoln ordered, dropping an unshielded Brute with a few good shots. Will emptied an entire clip into the Covenant troops, killing several Grunts and Jackals, along with an unshielded Brute. He turned to Shawn, who was clearly enjoying himself._

"_I hope you don't plan to use that one liner often!" Will shouted. Shawn laughed._

"_Everyday my friend!" he shouted back. He concentrated his fire on car that several Grunts were cowering behind, blowing it up with after a few shots. He laughed, "Not so fun when you're on the receiving end is it?" _

_A fuel cannon shot came whizzing past Shawn, impacting just left of him. The resulting explosion killed five of the Marines, and badly damaging the barricade. Shawn looked up to see that the Banshee from earlier had returned, and was now fast approaching them._

"_Oh you wanna piece of this too?!" he shouted, firing at the Banshee. Several shots hit one of the Banshee's wings, badly damaging it. The pilot tried to roll the Banshee out of the way of the incoming rounds, but failed to realise just how close it was to a building, and smashed into it. It bounced off the building, both wings now damaged beyond repair, and the back now on fire. It quickly began to lose altitude, plummeting towards the ground. Unfortunately the ground it was plummeting towards was already occupied by Shawn, who looked up at._

"_Oh shit", he said, frozen in fear. Will saw the Banshee was only seconds away from crushing his friend and quickly acted. He threw his rifle to the ground, before running at Shawn, not caring about the plasma fire all around him. As soon as Will reached Shawn he jumped, tackling him to the ground, knocking him several meters away from the turret. _

_A second later the Banshee landed on top of the machine gun, crushing it. It exploded at the same time, killing several Marines and destroying the barricade. The rest of the squad were knocked onto the ground by the resulting shockwave. Will rolled off Shawn, looking at what remained of the Banshee, before looking back at Shawn._

"_You okay there?" he asked. Shawn breathed a sigh of relief, before nodding._

"_I'm fine, thanks for the save though", he said, pulling himself up. Will quickly did the same, before looking over to the rest of his squad. Their numbers had been cut in half since the beginning of the attack, leaving only ten Marines left, including himself, Shawn, and Sergeant Bartlett, along with Private Lincoln. Lincoln coughed a few times, pulling some rubble of himself, before glancing at what remained of the barricade. He silently cursed, quickly pulling himself up as he did so. _

"_Captain Sandel, this is Private Lincoln, do you copy over?!" he asked into his radio, helping Sergeant Bartlett up at the same time._

"_This is Sandel, what's the problem?!" he shouted over the sound of gunfire. Lincoln quickly made his way to a one of the remaining portions of the barricade, peeking over it. He could see that the large Covenant force had broken cover, and were now slowly making their way towards the squad. He ducked back down, turning to his radio again._

"_Our barricade is gone, and I've lost half of the Marines garrisoning it. We won't be able to hold out for more than a few minutes, what is the status on the civilian evac?" he asked. _

"_The evac is almost done, but they need ten more minutes to get the last of the civilians out. Once that's done they will send air support to cover you as you fall back to the extraction zone. There will be Pelicans waiting to extract us, but until then I need you to hold that position, is that understood?" Sandel ordered him. _

"_Loud and clear sir", Lincoln replied, before sighing. He wasn't sure they could last another three minutes, let alone ten. Still, orders were orders, and he had to follow them. He turned back to the Marines, who all looked pretty demoralised at this point. He sighed again. "Guys, the civilians are still being evacuated. We need to hold this position for just ten more minutes", he told them. _

"_Is that even possible? I mean, without the turret and the barricade, and with only eleven men left, how are we supposed to stop them?" one of the Marines asked._

"_We can't just give up, especially when there are innocent lives on the line. We have to hold those Covenant bastards off, regardless of how much of a disadvantage we are at", Will said. _

"_Will's right, we can't just give up now, when we know that all those civilians are depending on us to keep them safe", Sergeant Bartlett told them. None of the Marines could provide a counterargument to that, each of them knowing it was true. _

"_So I can trust you all to stand by me?" Lincoln asked them._

"_Of course sir", Will said. The other Marines all nodded in response. Lincoln smiled under his helmet._

"_Glad to hear it. Find some cover now, if we want any chance of holding them off for ten minutes we need to take them by surprise", he told them. The squad quickly split up, some hiding in building, while others took cover behind cars. Will and Shawn quickly slid into cover behind a car, before pointing their rifles at the large hole in the barricade._

"_I'm really starting to miss that machine gun right about now", Shawn said. Will patted him on the back._

"_Don't worry, we'll make it out of here", he told Shawn, who snorted in reply._

"_I know that, what I meant was I'm really gonna miss the badass destruction I could cause with that machine gun", he said, before tapping Will on the shoulder, "When this is all over you gotta help me requisition one of those. I'll let you borrow it if we succeed, for one time only of course." Will laughed._

"_Promise me you'll never change Shawn", he said. Shawn didn't reply, winking at him instead, a large grin on his face. _

"_Would you two be quiet, they're almost here now", Sergeant Bartlett told them in a hushed voice. Only seconds after he had said that, the squad heard the all too familiar sound of an Elite giving out orders in Sangheili. _

"_They're right behind the barricade, get ready", Lincoln whispered into his radio. The squad focused their weapons on the gap in the barricade, ready to fire at anything that dared to go through it. Several long seconds passed, and yet no Covenant troops appeared. The Marines had also noticed just how quiet it had become, once again only able to hear the heavy downpour of rain._

_At first Will thought his mind was playing tricks on him when he noticed a faint shimmer in the air, not more than three metres to his right, but as the shimmer started to move towards him he realised just what it was. _

_He quickly grabbed Shawn, pulling him down as there was a flash of blue. They both looked up to see an Energy sword barely pass over them, before imbedding itself in the car they had been behind. Will quickly unsheathed his Energy Katana, stabbing it at the shimmering air. The shimmer grunted, before its active camouflage deactivated, revealing an Elite minor. It swayed for a few seconds, purple blood dripping out of its wound, before falling to the ground. _

"_Thanks dude, I owe you one", Shawn thanked him. Will didn't reply, his eyes widening as he looked at the rest of the squad. There were shimmers all around them._

"_Watch out, they're using active camouflage!" he shouted. It was too late however, as several Marines were quickly impaled by the hidden Elites, killing them instantly. The hidden Elite then de-cloaked, before attacking Lincoln and the remaining Marines._

_Will quickly pulled himself up as two Elite's, one a minor and the other an Ultra, came at him. They both swung their Energy swords at him, but he quickly sidestepped the first one, blocking the second one with his Energy Katana as he did so. The Elite Ultra saw an opening in Wills defences and delivered a hard kick to his side, causing him to fall to his knee, holding his side which was now in pain. That kick had probably bruised a few of his ribs ay best. He managed to ignore the pain though, and quickly responded by thrusting his Katana straight into the Ultra's neck, piercing its skin with ease. As the now lifeless body of the Ultra feel to the ground, the Minor came at Will again, kicking him into the car. It drew its Energy sword back, ready to stab Will._

"_Forget about somebody did you?!" Shawn shouted as ran up to the Minor, smashing its face with the butt of his rifle. It staggered back a bit, swinging its sword at Shawn while still in a dazed state. Shawn easily dodged the blind swings, before jamming his rifle into the Elites face and unloading the remainder of his clip into its face. Purple blood sprayed all over his rifle and hands as the Elite slumped to the ground._

"_Aw man, that's not gonna wash out is it?" Shawn asked, shaking his hands to try and get some of it off. Will quickly pulled himself back up, before looking around again. Apart from him and Shawn, there were still several Marines still fighting, including Sergeant Bartlett and Private Lincoln. He looked over at what remained of the barricade, and saw the rest of the Covenant force starting to pour through the hole._

"_Shawn, we need to get over there and help the others before they get overrun", Will told him. Shawn nodded, pushing another clip into his rifle as he did so. Will sheathed his Katana, before pulling out his M6C pistol, cocking it. _

"_Here, take this", Shawn said, handing Will his pistol, "You need it more than I do right now. Just look after it, I'm not getting you another one." Will smiled at his friend._

"_Thanks", he said, cocking the other pistol. He then took a deep breath, before looking confidently at his friend, "Let's do this." _

_Both of them broke from their cover behind the car, running as fast as they could towards Lincoln and the Marines. They had been closer to the barrier, and were now pinned down by the Covenant._

_Shawn fired his rifle into the back of a group of Grunts, killing them with ease. Will ran past his friend, firing his pistols at a nearby Brute, dropping its shields. The Brute quickly turned to face him, drawing its Needler. It fired several shots at the Marine, but Will easily dodged them by sliding under the shots. As he slid, he fired both his pistols, hitting the unshielded Brute in the legs. It roared in pain, dropping onto its knee. Will quickly rolled to the left, dodging several more shots, before firing the remainder of his clips into the Brute. It was instantly killed as several bullets hit it in the chest and head, before dropping to the ground. _

_Seeing what had just happened, an Elite Ultra shouted some orders to its lance. The lance broke off from their attack on Lincoln and the Marines, turning to face Will and Shawn instead. Both Marines jumped behind another car as the shots came flying in, barely missing them. _

"_Did you see how many of them were attacking us?" Will asked. _

"_I think I saw one Elite, two Brutes, and almost a dozen Grunts and Jackals", Shawn told him._

"_Damn!" Will cursed, before looking at Shawn, "Got any ideas?" Shawn smirked, pulling a frag grenade from his belt._

"_Just one, though I'm sure it will do the trick", he said, pulling the pin. He waited for a couple seconds before throwing the grenade high into the air. It landed right in the middle of the Covenant lance, detonating before they had any time to react. The resulting explosion and shrapnel killed most of the enemy lance, leaving only a dazed and unshielded Ultra left. Shawn quickly aimed over the car, killing the Ultra with the last few bullets in his clip. He pulled out the empty clip, before slamming in a new one._

"_Will, this is my last clip", he told his friend. Will nodded, reloading his pistols._

"_Me too. Let's make them count", he said. Just as they were about to break cover again, Will spotted another shimmer. "Get down!" he shouted, talking Shawn. Several Plasma shots flew over him, hitting the spot Shawn had been in only moment ago. As the pair got back up, the hidden Elite de-cloaked itself, drawing an Energy sword. _

"_Aw shit, a Zealot. It must have outflanked us while we were dealing with that squad", Shawn said. Will handed Shawn his pistol, unsheathing his Energy Katana once again. _

"_Go help the others, I've got this guy", he said._

"_Are you sure? I know I said you could do it earlier, but I'd feel a lot more confident about it if I was helping you", Shawn said. _

"_Shawn, the others need your help more than I do. Please, go and help them" Will said, not once taking his eyes off the Zealot in front of him. Shawn sighed, before nodding._

"_Okay, but if you die, I'll never forgive you", he said._

"_I won't", Will said as confidently as he could._

"_Good luck", Shawn said, before running off._

"_You too", he said, before looking up at the massive eight foot tall Elite in front of him._

'_This is going to be difficult', he thought to himself. As much as he hated to admit it, difficult was definitely an understatement. For a start, his opponent was at least two feet taller than him, and almost certainly stronger. If that wasn't bad enough, the Zealot was probably a veteran soldier, with at least several years of fighting under its belt, whereas Will had only been fighting for an hour at most. _

_Still, that wasn't going to stop him from trying. He and the rest of his squad were all that stood between the unarmed civilians, and the invading Covenant force, so he certainly wasn't going to back down without a fight. He had also promised Shawn he wouldn't die, and he wasn't going to let the Zealot break that promise easily._

_Will took a deep breath, before looking up at the Zealot, tightly gripping his Katana in his hands. The Zealot responded by drawing its Energy sword back, before charging at him. Will stood his ground as the massive Elite quickly closed the gap between them. _

'_I hope you trained me well dad, I'm going to need it.'_

**I hope you guys enjoyed that, sorry about the Elite killing, had to be there :(**

**Anyway, next time, the flashback will be concluded, and maybe, just maybe, we'll get back to the story itself XD**

**Please review, follow and favourite, more updates are on they way ;)**


	20. Bad-asses for life

**Sorry for the long wait guys, I have been busy with college and stuff like that.**

**Apart from that, I really don't have much to say, other than I am changing the cover art to that of my Faye 'Sumee commission (just so you all know).**

**So anyway, in this chapter we shall finally finish Shawn's long-ass flashback, and now we will be able too get back to the story itself.**

**Anyway, I hope you all enjoy this.**

**P.s. Yes I did remove all the updates, I feel they are no longer necessary**

**P.s.s. Finally updated for real this time, I hope you're happy Konner N7 XD**

**Chapter 20**

_**New Khartoum, Verent, UNSC colony**_

_**March 26**__**th**__** 2548. 14:23 hours**_

_Will jumped out of the way as the Zealot quickly closed the distance between them, barely avoiding its Energy sword as it was swung at him. He rolled back onto his feet, before charging the Zealot from behind. The Zealot was quick to react though, ducking as Will tried to slice its neck, before punching him in the stomach. The force from the punch sent Will flying several metres backwards, before hitting the ground hard. He coughed several times, holding his stomach, which was raked with pain. _

_He was forced to forget the pain however, and rolled to the left as the Zealot jumped at him, its Energy sword being thrust into the space he had occupied less than a second ago. Will turned himself while he was on the ground, before delivering a hard kick into the Zealots face. It seemed unfazed by the kick though, and starting making its way over to Will. _

_Will quickly rolled backwards, picking himself up as the Zealot charged him again. He ducked under the Elites sword as it was swung at him, before thrusting his Katana at its abdomen. The Zealot was much quicker than he had expected though, and avoided most of the attack with a quick sidestep. It wasn't able to move quickly enough though, and had its side cut as the Katana sliced through its armour. It roared in pain, before grabbing Will by the head and throwing him several feet away, tearing his helmet off as it did so. _

'_This isn't going well', Will thought as he picked himself up again, coughing a few times. He was fighting the Zealot the wrong way and he knew it. He needed to use the Elites weakness against it. 'Its size! It may be stronger than me, but my size means I'm far more agile than it', he told himself. _

_Filled with new levels of confidence, Will pulled out his pistol, now dual wielding it with his Katana. The Zealot copied him, pulling out its Needler, before charging at him. He smirked, before charging back at the Zealot, Katana raised high in the air. _

_Shawn ran in between the abandoned cars, dodging any stray shots that came his way as he moved closer to Lincoln and the remaining Marines. They were currently pinned behind several cars, coming under heavy fire from the large Covenant force. He jumped into cover once he had closed the distance, now only fifteen metres away from the squad. He would still have to cover those fifteen metres though, which was nothing but open ground, making him an easy target for the Covenant troops nearby. _

_He decided against running over to the squad, having thought up another idea instead. He quickly crossed to the other side of the road, staying in cover for as long as possible to make sure the Covenant didn't see him. It only took him 30 seconds to cross the road, and he jumped behind the final car as he did so. _

_He slowly peered round the side of the car, and was pleased by what he saw. He was only a few metres away from the Covenant troops, in what he considered to be a perfect position to outflank them. He holstered his pistol, before pulling out his M90 shotgun, racking back its pump. He grinned as he heard the familiar and satisfying sound it made. In his other hand he picked up a Plasma grenade that had been dropped earlier. He smirked, before priming the grenade and standing up, revealing himself to the Covenant troops._

"_Kiss your sorry asses' goodbye you Covenant bastards, for I am Shawn Walters, greatest UNSC Marine to have ever lived, and I'm here to show you just how epic I am!" he shouted, before throwing the grenade, sticking it onto a Brutes head. The Brute panicked, trying desperately to pull it off as the others around it tried to get away. It was a futile effort though and the grenade detonated, killing the Brute, along with several Grunts and Jackal who had been unable to get away in time. _

_Shawn jumped over the car bonnet, kicking a Jackal in the face as he did so. As he landed he raised his shotgun up, firing it into the face of an unshielded Brute, killing it instantly. He span around, firing two more shots into a group of five Grunts, dropping them quickly. _

_He smashed a Jackal in the face with his shotgun, before grabbing its shield while it was still in its arm and raising it up, blocking several plasma shots. He dropped the Jackals arm before levelling his shotgun again, firing three shots into a Brute, easily breaking through its shields and killing it. Another Brute came at him with its Combat knife, but he easily dodged its wild stab, before drawing his own knife and stabbing the Brute in the throat. _

_Shawn quickly ducked as an Energy sword went flying over his head, barely missing him. He felt the wind get taken out of him as a heavy foot kicked into a car. He looked up, grinning slightly._

"_Hello there, I was wondering when you two would show up", he said to the two Zealots now in front of him. The Zealots just stared at him, causing him to laugh nervously, "Well, I can see the greatest UNSC Marine isn't wanted anymore, so I'll just be going."_

_He tried to make a break for it, but one of the Zealots grabbed him by the throat, stopping him in his tracks. It then lifted him off the ground, causing him to choke a bit._

"_Careful, I need that for breathing", he said in a choked voice. The Zealot ignored his remark, drawing its Energy sword. Shawn looked down at the sword with wide eyes. "Hey, just calm down dude, can't we just talk about this like normal human beings? Well, one normal human being, and one tall and very angry looking alien", he rambled, still choking slightly. Once again the Zealot ignored him, more focused on preparing to stab him instead._

'_Worst first mission ever, of all time', Shawn thought, before clenching his eyes shut, waiting for the inevitable to happen. _

_Will ran up to the Elite, rolling at the last second to dodge its Energy sword, causing the Zealot to run right past him. Will quickly pushed himself up, firing several shot into the Zealots back. The shots had little effect against the Zealots shields though, and he soon ran out of bullets. He quickly holstered his M6, drawing his Combat knife instead. _

_The Zealot turned to face Will again, firing its Needler at him. Will quickly jumped to the left, barely avoiding the semi-homing crystal that were shot at him. He then rolled himself back into a standing position, before throwing his Combat knife at the Zealot, imbedding it into the Zealots Needler. The Zealot growled, throwing away the now useless Needler, opting to rely solely on its Energy sword instead. _

_Will ran up to the Zealot again, sidestepping to avoid the Energy sword as it was thrust at him. Now on the Elites side, he quickly turned, slicing at its side. It roared in pain, elbowing Will in the face, before delivering a hard kick to his abdomen, sending him sprawling to the floor again. _

_Will quickly recovered from the kick, rolling to the left as the Zealot tried to stab him again. He was able to avoid being skewered by the Zealot, but he couldn't fully get out of the way in time and the Energy sword sliced through his armour, slightly cutting his left arm._

_Will gritted his teeth, suppressing a cry of pain as he felt the sword burn his skin. He quickly moved himself away from the Zealot, crawling over to its dropped Needler. He pulled his Combat knife out of it, before rolling over again, this time blocking the Zealots Energy sword with his own. He then thrust upwards with his left arm, ignoring the immense pain it gave him as he stabbed the Zealot in the stomach. He twisted the blade in its stomach, causing the Zealot to keel over, dropping its Energy sword. Now completely free, he brought his Katana back, before stabbing it straight through the Zealots neck. It gargled for a second, before falling to the ground, purple blood streaming out of the wound. Will sighed in relief, before looking at his newly acquired wound. While it wasn't bleeding thanks to the cauterising effect of the sword, it, along with quite fair portion of his upper arm, was badly burned. _

'_Well that's going to scar', he thought as he picked himself up. He was in a great deal of pain, but tried to ignore as best he could. His squad needed his help, and he wasn't about to let them down. 'Besides, Bartlett and Lincoln are the only ones with Biofoam', he told himself. _

_Will sheathed his Katana and Combat knife, pulling out his MA5B instead. He loaded the final clip, making sure not to put too much pressure on his left arm, before running off to help the others._

_Just as the Zealot was about to stab Shawn, it saw something in its peripheral. It turned its head slightly, only seeing the butt of Lincoln's BR milliseconds before it was smashed into its face. It stumbled back, dropping Shawn as it shook its head, spitting out some blood as it did so. Both Zealots quickly activated their active camouflage as Bartlett and the remaining Marines arrived, unloading their clips into the unsuspecting Covenant troops. Lincoln picked up Shawn's shotgun, before throwing it back at the now standing Marine._

"_You okay there?" he asked as he brought his BR up again, unloading several rounds into a nearby Brute. Shawn nodded, reloading his shotgun as he did so._

"_Of course, thanks for saving my ass though", he said, raking back the shotgun pump. Lincoln nodded, unloading the rest of his clip two Grunts and Jackal._

"_Well you saved our asses, so I thought we could repay the favour", he told Shawn, slamming another clip into his Battle Rifle as he did so. The two of them quickly jumped behind a car as the Covenant troops became more aware of the situation at hand, and started concentrating their fire on them. A few seconds later Sergeant Bartlett and the remaining Marines slid into cover alongside them, though two of the Marines were cut down before they could make it. "Sergeant Bartlett, how many Marines do we have left?" Lincoln asked him. Bartlett took a few seconds to count the Marines around him, before turning back to the ODST._

"_Six including me and Shawn", he told Lincoln, before looking at Shawn, "Where's Will?"_

"_He's down the road fighting one of the Zealots sir", Shawn answered, before peering over the car and firing his shotgun straight into a Brutes face, killing it instantly._

"_You let him fight a Zealot alone? Are you mad?!" Bartlett asked him, obviously annoyed by Shawn's decision. _

"_Will told me to come and help you guys, and he was right in doing so. If I hadn't come over here you guys would still be pinned down at the very least, if not dead. Besides, I've seen Will in training, he's more than capable of handling himself", Shawn told them. Bartlett was about to argue otherwise, but Lincoln put his hand up, silencing him._

"_Whether or not you agree with him doesn't matter, either way Will is preventing them from outflanking us", he said, before looking at his helmets HUD, "Now we've only got to hold this position for another two minutes, so here is what we'll do. We'll ta-"_

"_Oh shit, here comes their armour!" one of the Marines shouted, interrupting Lincoln. The squad quickly peered over their cover, seeing a Wraith, along with Covenant reinforcements, fast approaching them. The Wraith soon stopped in its tracks, aiming its main turret at the car they were all taking cover behind._

"_Squad break cover, they're gonna take this car out and us with it if we don't move!" Lincoln shouted, quickly pulling himself up as the Wraith fired. The squad obeyed his command, breaking cover in an attempt to avoid the Wraiths shot. The shot impacted near the car, blowing it up whilst also sending it flying into the air. It remained up there for a few seconds, before crashing back down on an unfortunate Marine. _

_Shawn ducked behind cover as more shots came flying in, killing another Marine as he tried to find cover. Much to Shawn's disappointment, he noticed a shimmer fast approaching him._

"_One of the Zealots got behind us!" he shouted, firing several shots into the hidden Zealot, breaking its shields and deactivating its camouflage. He was unable to kill it though, and the Zealot quickly closed the gap between them. It grabbed Shawn's shotgun, tearing it out of his hands and throwing it away, before redrawing its Energy sword._

_Just as it was about to strike, several bullets hit it in the back, causing it to roar out in pain. It quickly turned, but was only met by more bullets as Will fired his last clip into the it, using only his right hand to fire. The Zealot gargled a few times, before falling to the ground. Shawn looked at his friend, laughing._

"_That's two Zealot kills, you're on a roll today!" he shouted. Will quickly put away his now empty rifle, opting to use his M6 instead. He then quickly made his way over to Shawn, sliding into cover next to him. Now close up, Shawn managed to get a good look at Wills left arm, "Shit dude, how did that happen?"_

"_Energy sword, the Zealot just got me with it. Hurts like a bitch", Will told him. _

"_You need to get some Biofoam for that", Shawn said. Will nodded._

"_Once everyone's safe, I will", he said. The rest of the squad quickly joined them behind the car as Will looked back down the road. He saw the last Zealot de-cloak, standing alongside the other Covenant troops. They were about twenty metres away, with the Wraith not far behind them, waiting for the humans to break cover_

"_Shit, there's too many of them. We'll never be able to escape, and we don't have the ammo to fight them all", he told them. _

"_Well at least they're dealing with us and not the civilians", Lincoln said. He looked at his HUD just as the clock struck zero, "They should be safe now."_

"_Then this mission wasn't a failure after all. Good job Marines, I just wish some of us could have survived this", Bartlett said. Shawn turned to Will, chuckling slightly._

"_Well, this isn't how I expected our first mission to end", he said, before sighing. Will took a deep breath, before drawing his Energy Katana._

"_It's not over yet, we still have some fight left!" Will told them. Bartlett nodded, drawing his pistol._

"_I agree, let's give them hell Marines, one last time", he said. _

"_Oorah!" the Marines replied, drawing their respective weapons. Lincoln threw his BR to the ground, before unsheathing his Combat knife._

"_So it's hero's death for all of us then", he said. _

"_For you guys maybe, I'm going for the badass death myself", Shawn said, grinning as he raked back his shotgun pump. _

"_Wait for the Wraith to fire, then we charge them", Lincoln ordered. The squad watched as the Wraith turned to face them again, aiming its main gun at them. They waited several seconds for the Wraith to fire its familiar blue plasma shot, but it never came as the Wraith exploded in a blue flame, knocking any nearby Covenant troops to the ground._

"_What the hell was that!?" Bartlett asked, surprised by the sudden explosion. Will smiled, pointing down the street._

"_Our evac's here", he told them. The squad looked down the street to see the three Sparrowhawks from early hovering nearby, with a Pelican not far behind them._

"_We heard you boys needed some help", a female pilot said through the radio._

"_Oh you beautiful person, I could just kiss you! Can I kiss you?" Shawn asked the pilot, who chuckled in reply._

"_Save that for later Marine, right now I've gotta save your ass. Now stay down, this is gonna get messy", she told them. The squad got as low to the ground as they could as the Sparrorhawks opened up, firing their Autocannons at the enemy below them. The Covenant troops were quickly cut down as the armour piercing rounds were fired at them. Even the Zealot stood little chance, and was quickly cut down by the heavy firepower. Those that weren't cut down quickly turned tail, running for their lives. _

"_Yeah, how does it feel to be on the receiving end?! Not so fun, is it?!" Shawn shouted as the Covenant troops retreated. The Sparrorhawks hovered over the squad, covering them and the Pelican as it landed. Lincoln sighed in relief, pulling himself up as he did so._

"_Let's get out of here guys, I think we all deserve a break", he said. No one could disagree with him, and quickly followed him into the Pelican. Bartlett took out one of his Biofoam tubes, giving it to Will as the Pelicans back door closed and it took off._

"_You must be in a lot of pain, get that wound sorted out", he told Will. Will nodded, before handing Shawn the Biofoam._

"_Could you do it, it's kind of hard for one person to do it on themselves, especially when it's nearly as painful as the wound itself", he asked Shawn. _

"_Sure thing. Just hold still, you don't want it to hurt anymore than it's already going to", Shawn told him. He gently pushed the tip of the can into Will wound, before filling it with the space-filling coagulant polymer inside it. Will gritted his teeth, stopping himself from crying out in pain as the foam expanded inside him, sealing the wound. At first it felt like thousands of tiny knifes were stabbing into him, but after a few seconds the pain went away, replaced by a relaxing numbness. Will sighed in relief, the searing and almost unbearable pain he had been feeling for almost five minutes finally leaving him. _

"_Thanks, that really helped", Will said, smiling at his friend. He looked back down at his wound, only for it to be covered up by Shawn as he wrapped a bandage his arm. "It's still gonna scar though", he said. Shawn finished covering his friends wound up, before patting him on the shoulder._

"_Don't worry about it dude, chicks love scars", he said, grinning at Will._

"_I'm pretty sure that only applies to cuts or bullet wounds, not plasma burns", Will said._

"_It's not what the scar looks like or what caused it that counts, it's the fact you have one. Scars like that prove you're a badass, and chicks love badass guys", Shawn told him. Will chuckled._

"_I hope you're right", he said._

"_Of course I'm right", Shawn said, before sitting back in his seat, "But for now, I think we should focus on being Marines. As I always say, you can never be too badass." Will chuckled, relaxing in his seat._

"_For once, I completely agree with you", he said._

* * *

"...and that is how me and my sidekick started out on our epic road to badassery. It was a long road, filled with many dangers, but nothing could stop us, and we eventually became the ultra badass, and in my case, incredibly sexy, ODST's you know today", Shawn said, before taking a bow, "Thank you, that'll be twenty dollars."

"Very funny Shawn", Will said sarcastically, his arms folded.

"Thank you, I do try", Shawn said, ignoring his friends obvious sarcasm.

"In all seriousness though, that sounds like one hell of a first mission you guys had", Natasha said.

"Yeah it was, but we got through it somehow", Will told her.

"I can tell you two were great warriors back then", Thon said, before turning to Will, "Especially you Will. It's hard enough to kill a Zealot alone, but beating it in a duel takes some skill." Will smiled sheepishly at the compliment, rubbing the back of his head.

"Yeah, I guess I just got lucky", he said. Thon shook his head.

"From what I heard it wasn't luck, you were already skilled with your Energy weapon before you first mission", he said.

"Yeah you're right. My father was an ODST before me, and the Energy Katana was his weapon of choice. When he retired he passed it down to me, and trained me on how to use it", Will told him.

"Your father sounds like a good man", Faye said. Will sighed, looking down at the ground.

"Yeah, he was", he said quietly.

"He's dead?" Faye asked, receiving only a nod in reply, "I'm sorry to hear that, it must have been hard on you and your family."

"Yeah, but I'd rather not talk about it now", he said. Shawn quickly stood up, drawing everyone's attention.

"They seem to be out of bread, would you help me get some Faye?" he asked, winking at her. It took her a few seconds to realise what he actually meant. She quickly got up, following Shawn as he walked away from the table. He stopped when they were out of hearing range of the rest of the group, turning to face her. Faye crossed her arms.

"You know you could have come up with a better excuse for us to leave than we've ran out of bread. So, what do you?" she asked. Shawn moved closer to her.

"You saw the way Will was when you mentioned his family right?" he asked her.

"Yeah, he said he didn't want to talk about it and then went quiet. Why do you ask?" Faye asked him.

"I'm gonna completely straight with you; Will doesn't like to talk about his family often, especially in public. It brings back a lot of bad memories for him", Shawn told her.

"What do you mean? Bad memories about what?" Faye asked.

"His family and his home world. I won't tell you anymore, I'll leave that for Will to do. If he trusts you enough, which I'm sure he does, he will tell you soon", Shawn answered.

'_Maybe that's what Will was talking about this morning'_, Faye thought. It would make sense, given how his reaction just now had been similar to the one this morning.

"Thank you for telling me this", she said. Shawn nodded.

"You're welcome, just don't try and force him into telling you, he'll do it in his own time", he said, before starting to make his way back to the table, "Now, let's change the subject before he gets all depressed again." Faye nodded in agreement as the two arrived at the table.

"So, where's this so called bread you guys were suppose to be getting?" Will asked.

"Oh, there wasn't any left, I guess they ran out", Shawn lied.

"But that still doesn't answer why did you needed my sister to come with you", Thon said.

'_Damn it brother, you're not making this any easier!' _Faye thought.

"I was planning to get a lot of bread, and I needed someone strong to carry it. That's why I needed your sister", Shawn told him. Thon stared at him for a second, before nodding.

"Well, if you say so", he said. Shawn nodded, before looking at the rest of the group.

"Well it seems we've all finished our lunch, so how's about I show you those badass weapons I was talking about earlier?" he suggested.

"Sure, I'd like to see what's gotten you so excited", Will said, standing up.

"Oh you'll love it, there are so many to choose from. I haven't even seen some of them before", Shawn said, before running off. Natasha sighed.

"Oh boy, here we go again", she said in an exasperated voice as the rest of the group picked up whatever armour they had taken off earlier, before trying to catch up with the excited form of Shawn. Faye elected to stay at the back of the group, smirking to herself as she walked.

'_Shawn's better than I had originally thought, I'm starting to like him'_, she thought to herself. Of course, she would never tell him, the man had far too much of an ego as it was without her adding to it.

**I hope you guys enjoyed that, I think I've set things up pretty nicely for the final flashback.**

**Next chapter, weapons porn and a whole lot of drama ;)**

**Until then, have a great day **


	21. Weapons and drama

**Here's the next chapter, finally :D**

**I'm pretty sure you all know the reasons for my lateness by now, so I won't repeat it. Also I put a lot of work into this chapter in order to get it to work the way I wanted to, which is actually harder than it sounds XD**

** Still, I am sorry for being so late, I'll try to be quicker next time.**

**Anyway, I hope you all enjoy it ;)**

**P.s. Yes the reviews are kind of screwed up because I removed those updates, please ignore that **

**Chapter 21**

**London, UK, Earth**

**November 16****th**** 2552. 14:46 hours**

Shawn led the group as they made their way towards the armoury, skipping merrily as he did so. Thon shook his head as he watched the excited ODST ahead of him

"Does he always get this excited?" he asked the group as he walked behind Shawn. Will chuckled.

"Only when it comes to food, girls, and guns. He really doesn't help the male stereotype", he told Thon. Shawn ignored Will's comment, having just spotted the large armoury doors. He skipped over to it, stopping just as he was about to open it. He turned back to the group, grinning.

"Now there are a lot of weapons in here, so try not to get too excited about it", he said, before opening the large doors.

"Holy shit, that's a lot of guns", Aleski said. He certainly wasn't joking, the armoury was huge, and packed full of many different weapons. Some were well known, such as the M6 or the MA5B, while others were so rare most of the group couldn't name them based off memory alone. They also ranged in size, going from something as small as a grenade, to something as large as a Warthog. Will chuckled.

"I see why you were so excited, I've never seen so many weapons all in one place before", he said. Shawn nodded, grinning widely.

"And they're all free, so pick what you want guys", he told them. Aleski looked at others, smirking.

"Well, if he insists", he said, before entering the armoury. The rest of the squad soon followed him, they certainly weren't about to pass up free weapons. The weapons were categorised in terms of type of gun, making it easy for the group to find exactly what they wanted.

To no one's great surprise, Shawn quickly made his way over to the heavy weapons, grinning as he did so. He knew exactly what he wanted thanks to his early visit, something that had caught his eye the moment he had walked in. He picked the heavy weapon up, before turning to Will.

"Hey Will, how about this?" he asked. Will turned to his friend holding a Spartan laser with one hand, grinning under his helmet. Will titled his head slightly, before nodding.

"Yeah, that's a good look", he told Shawn. Shawn nodded before turning back to the where he had got the Spartan laser, picking up several more rounds for it, that came in the form of battery cells.

"Hell yeah, I'm gonna kick some ass with this thing!" he said. Will rolled his eyes, before turning back in order to continue looking around the armoury. He eventually stumbled across a large metal door, which he could tell just from looking at it that it was heavily locked. To the left of it was a screen and a slot used for inserting an AI. What interested Will most though was the large sign above it, which read, _'X, authorised personal only.'_

"Shawn, what do you think the X stands for?" he asked. Shawn leaned over to see what his friend meant.

"I'm pretty sure it means here's where the treasure is buried, or in the case of weaponry, experimental stuff", Shawn told him. Will nodded, before touching the screen.

"_Warning, you are unauthorised to access this area, please wait here while an ONI security guard comes to arrest you "_, a female voice told. Shawn turned, looking out of the armoury for a few seconds, before turning back to the others.

"I think we should take our chances, I hear the police round here take forever to arrive anyway", he said. Will looked over the screen and the AI port, before sighing.

"Well shit, without an AI or the proper authorisation, there's no way we can get through this", he said.

"I could blast it open with my Spartan laser", Shawn suggested.

"I wouldn't if I was you, you could easily destroy everything in there", Will told him. Thon chuckled, before stepping in front of them.

"You guys are over thinking this, let me try", he said. The group looked at him in confusion, except for Faye, who just shook her head.

"Do you have some sort of super advanced, former Covenant technology that can get through it?" Natasha asked him. Thon smirked.

"Something like that", he said, before drawing his Energy sword and slicing it along the doors hinges, removing it from the wall with ease. The group quickly moved out of the way as he grabbed the metal door before throwing it several meters away. Shawn chuckled.

"Good old ONI, prepared for anything, except an averagely sized Elite with a standard issue weapon", he joked. Will grinned at the comment, before entering the no longer obstructed room.

Though this room was nowhere near as big as the main armoury, it was still pretty big, and had a lot of weapons inside. While some of those weapons looked somewhat familiar, most of them looked completely new.

"I guess you were right about these being experimental weapons Shawn, I've never seen or heard of any of these before", Will told him.

"Doesn't ONI have some sort of secret research station off world for this stuff? If so, what's it doing here instead?" Aleski asked. Shawn shrugged.

"I don't know why they're here; maybe it's for testing or something. Either way, they're here, so we may as well use them", he said, before picking one of them up. The name above where it had been holstered read, _'M739 light machine gun/the SAW.'_

"How do you know they'll even work?" Will asked him. Shawn grinned, flicking the safety of his new gun.

"Only one way to find out", he said before aiming the gun up and firing several shots into the ceiling, causing the entire squad to jump.

"For fuck's sake Shawn, give us some warning next time!" Will said.

"What are you moaning about, I solved the whole 'does it work' problem, you should be happy", Shawn said. Will shook his head, before going off to find a weapon of his own. Shawn turned back to where he had got the SAW, picking up several of the drum shaped magazines for it, before throwing away his MA5B.

"Why are you throwing your rifle away?" Natasha asked him. Shawn held up the SAW, slowly stroking its barrel.

"Don't need it, not now I've got this beauty", he told her. She shook her head.

"Suit yourself then, I'm going to stick with the classics", she said, before picking up new assault rifle, known as the MA5D. Shawn raised an eyebrow.

"So much for sticking with the classics then", he said.

"It's still the same gun, just upgraded slightly and with a different letter at the end of it", Natasha told him.

As she was doing this, Aleski spotted an upgraded version of his sniper rifle. He went over to it, studying it intensely. He rubbed his chin, before looking down at his current sniper rifle and kissing it.

"No upgrade is worth giving you up", he whispered to it. Much to his dismay, it didn't reply.

The last person to find a weapon that interested them was Will, who noticed an upgraded version of the BR, known as the BR85HB SR Battle rifle. He compared his current BR to the newer one, thinking about it carefully. Unlike Aleski he had no ties to the weapon, but both weapons were almost identical, making it harder for him to decide. He thought for several more seconds, before shrugging and picking up the new BR.

"I guess an upgrade is better than nothing", he said to himself, before turning back to the others, "Everyone got what they want?" The group nodded in conformation. Faye and Thon had decided against getting new weapons, seeing how none of them were made for Sangheili use. Still, Will was sure they could use a human weapon if they tried, but he wasn't going to force them into anything. "Good to hear. I suggest we go and find Captain Lovitz now, he'll want to brief us on the defence plan soon", he told them. The group nodded, following Will as he left the armoury.

"How mad do you think ONI are going to be when they find out two Elites, a Marine, and several ODST's broke into their armoury and took several of their experimental weapons without permission?" Shawn asked as they walked.

"I'm pretty sure ONI will make an exception, given the circumstances", Will told him.

"I guess, but don't blame me if they come looking for us", Shawn said.

"If it's anyone fault it's yours, you showed us the armoury", Will argued.

"No, it's anyone's fault its Thon's for ripping that door off the wall", Shawn said. Thon snorted.

"Maybe if you actually had some muscle to you I wouldn't have had to open the door for you", he said.

"Just you wait, as soon as I become a Spartan I'll make you eat those words", Shawn told him. Natasha couldn't help but laugh.

"You plan to become a Spartan?! Good luck with that", she said.

"I don't need luck, I'm already badass enough to be a Spartan, I just need to wait for them to notice me", Shawn said.

"Shawn, if you ever become a Spartan, civilisation as we know it would end", Faye joked, receiving laughs from everyone except from Shawn, who crossed his arms.

"Just you wait, I'll become such a badass Spartan that people will be like 'Master Chief who?', and I'll have my own hot AI chick, and my own halo rings to blow up, and I too will be 8 foot tall. Then we'll see who's still laughing", he said. Will probably would've continued to annoy him, had it not been for the ODST he walked into as he turned the corner. He fell onto his back, before the ODST landed right on top of him, in a rather compromising position. As embarrassing as it was, he could tell from the ODST's body shape that they were female, and there was only one female in his squad.

"Lindsay?" he asked, still unsure due to the fact she was wearing her helmet. She seemed to jump at his voice, looking up at him in surprise.

"Will, is that you?" She asked, not really needing to know the answer. She could easily tell it was him by his voice and his trademark Energy Katana. Will nodded, removing his helmet.

"Of course it is, who else could it be?" he asked, before blushing, "Could you please get off me, this is kind of an awkward position, especially for talking." Lindsay blushed, quickly pulling herself off of Will, allowing him to stand back up.

He had only been standing for a few seconds when Lindsay took her helmet off and threw it to the side, before tightly hugging him. Will was caught off guard by this, as was most of the group, none more so than Faye. She clenched her fists as she felt a mixture of anger and jealousy build up inside her. Another female, one who was definitely attractive by human standards, had her arms firmly around her man. She took a deep breath, trying to calm herself a bit.

'_There are just friends, his has never said she is anything other than that, you're just over-reacting'_, she told herself. It was to her great surprise then that when she looked back she saw Lindsay kissing Will, a surprised look on his face.

"That's it!" Faye shouted, her jealousy now completely replaced by anger. She pushed past her brother and Shawn, before grabbing Lindsay by her rucksack. She pulled Lindsay off Will, before throwing her several meters down the corridor. Lindsay screamed in surprise as instead of seeing Will's face when she opened her eyes, she saw the fast approaching floor. She hit the floor hard but ignored the pain, quickly picking herself back up again. She turned to Faye, who now stood in front of Will, growling.

"What the fuck do you think you're doing?!" she asked angrily.

"I could ask you the same thing", Faye said, glaring at the ODST.

"It's called kissing, you do it when you like someone, although that's probably an alien concept to you given your split-jaw", Lindsay said. Faye smirked.

"I understand the concept, I've kissed before", she told Lindsay.

"Wait what?" Thon asked, surprised by what his sister had just said. Lindsay ignored him, snorting.

"Really?! I feel sorry for whoever you kissed then, it must have been awful for him", she said.

Faye growled, she wanted nothing more than to tell Lindsay everything, to prove her wrong. But she had promised Will she would try to keep their relationship for as long as possible. Of course if she had known what Will was going to say next, she wouldn't have even bothered remaining silent.

"Actually it was the best kiss of my life", Will told her. There was a few seconds of silence as Lindsay, Thon and Aleski tried to process just what he had said, Natasha and Shawn face-palmed, and Faye looked at him in surprise. Will smiled at her, "It's okay, there's no point in hiding it anymore."

'_So much for waiting'_, he thought to himself. He had really wanted to stick to the plan, but after seeing Lindsay and Faye come close to fighting each other, he had tell them.

"You're joking aren't you, because if you are it's not funny", Lindsay said.

"It's not a joke, we have kissed", Will told her.

"Will, why? We've been friends for over two years now and I've loved you for more than half of that time, and yet you pick an alien who you've only known for four days", Lindsay said, trying to suppress the tears the welled up in her eyes. Will moved past Faye, putting his hand on Lindsay's shoulder.

"I am so sorry, I never knew you loved me", Will told her.

"It's true, he didn't. You know him Lindsay, he is terrible when it comes to women. He thought Faye was a male when he first saw her", Shawn said. Will glared at him.

"Not helping Shawn", he said, before looking back at Lindsay, "He is right though, I'm terrible with women." Lindsay chuckled.

"Yes you are", she said, before sighing, "I don't blame you for it, you are an idiot, and I love you for it." She quickly moved Will out of the way, before walking over to Faye, standing face to face (or as close to it as she could get) with the Elite. "You on the other hand, I can blame", she said darkly.

"Lindsay, please don't", Will begged. She ignored him.

"Who do you think you are coming into my life and stealing the person I love after only four days of knowing him? Why couldn't you just stick to your own species?" Lindsay asked.

"Because most of the males in my species treat me with little respect. Will was the first male to do so in a long time, and though it's not the only reason, I found myself falling for him because of it", Faye told her.

"You're the one Ygar told me about aren't you? God, I can't believe I defended you while you were off leading Will astray", Lindsay said. Faye growled at her.

"I was not leading him astray, he was never even with you in the first place", she said.

"Well he would be with me right now if you hadn't come along and ruined everything!" Lindsay shouted, drawing her Combat knife, "And I am going to make you pay for that you bitch!"

"Enough!" The group turned to see a very angry looking Archer looking at them, flanked by Drew, Vito and Ygar. "I came here to see how you all were, and to have a friendly and professional discussion about the defence plan. Instead, I find you squabbling like a bunch of Jackals and about to kill each other because you can't decide who's more worthy of Will's love!" he shouted. Lindsay sheathed her Combat knife, before walking over to her Captain.

"But sir, I-"

"No, I don't want to hear it. Now I've heard enough of it to know what you are arguing about, and quite frankly, I don't care. If Will wants to be in a relationship with Faye, good on him, I have nothing against it", Archer continued.

"But sir, it's unnatural", Drew pointed out.

"As I just said, I don't care", Archer said, before turning to Will and Faye, "What I care about is the integrity of the alliance and the squad, and I will not have it undermined by anyone."

"I agree with your Captain. I will admit I am not a fan of this, and in most cases I would not condone of such a relationship, but right now there are more important things to do deal with", Vito said.

"But sir, this relationship goes against everything we believe in", Ygar told him.

"And we will deal with it at the appropriate time, but right now we must put aside whatever arguments we have to deal with the Covenant", Vito replied. Archer nodded.

"Couldn't have said it better myself. Now, we will deal with this after we've stopped the Covenant", he said, before looking at Will and Faye, "Until then, I suggest you two keep your relationship to yourselves, is that understood?"

"Yes sir, thank you sir", Will said, before looking at Lindsay, "Lindsay, I'm sorry for everything that has happened today, I didn't mean to hurt you and neither did Faye."

"Yeah, whatever", she said, before walking off. Archer glanced at her as she walked to past him, before looking back at the group.

"I'll give you guys five minutes to patch things up, make sure this doesn't happen again. I'll see you at the barricade", he said, before also walking off. Drew shook his head in disbelief, before following his Captain.

"Major Thon, I am still expecting that report from you. And please make sure your sister doesn't pull any more of these stunts", Vito told him, before leaving them.

"You are a dishonour to our species", Ygar told Faye, before he also left them.

"What an asshole", Natasha said, voicing everyone's opinion. Thon looked at his sister, sighing.

"So, you are with a human now. Thanks for telling me about it", he said sarcastically.

"I'm sorry brother; I really wanted to tell you, but Will and I decided it would be better to wait until his squad had got to know us better", Faye told him, before rubbing the back of her head, "Besides, I was worried that you might get angry at me because you didn't condone of my relationship with Will. I mean, I would understand if you did, it completely goes against our tradition." Thon shook his head, smiling at his sister.

"Faye, you are my sister, I could never be truly angry with you. If you love him, and he loves you, then I accept your decision", he told her. Faye smiled, hugging her brother.

"Thank you, it means a lot to me", she said. Thon chuckled.

"You're welcome. Besides, I've known you for many years, I think I'm used to your non-traditionalist ways by now", he told her. Faye let go of her brother, smiling up at him.

"You're right, I am sorry for doubting you", she said.

"It's okay, your fears were understandable given the reactions of Ygar and Drew", he said, before looking at Will, "You have only known my sister for a couple days, are you sure you love her?"

"I know it sounds like it happened way too quickly to be true, but I really do love her", Will told him. Thon leaned in closer

"Good, just a word of warning though, if you break her heart, I will make sure you suffer", he told Will. Will leaned away from Thon, smiling sheepishly.

"Don't worry, you won't need to do that, I promise I'll look after her", Will said. Thon smiled, patting Will on one of his shoulders.

"Good to hear, I knew you were a good guy. I hope to get to know you better over the next few days, but until then..", he said, before turning back to Faye, "...I should probably go make that report, I will see you later little sis'. And don't let Ygar or anyone else get to you."

"I won't, thank you brother", Faye said. Thon nodded, before leaving the group to file his report.

"Well, all in all I think that went better than expected", Shawn said.

"Apart from Ygar, Lindsay and Drew all hating me now, yeah everything worked out just fine", Faye said sarcastically. Will went over to Faye, pulling her into an embrace.

"Hey, don't worry about it, everything will be alright. Drew and Lindsay are my friends, I'm sure they'll come to like you in time. And as for Ygar, he's an asshole and you should ignore him like your brother told you to", he said, before smiling at her, "And remember, we don't have to hide our relationship anymore, all we have to do is be a little quiet about it now, which is definitely a good thing." Faye smiled back, lightly kissing Will on the cheek.

"You're right, I am being foolish again", she said, before sighing contently, "As long as you're by my side, I know everything will be alright."

"Aww, they're so cute together", Natasha whispered. Shawn rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, cute is one word for it, although I'd prefer to use the word corny instead", he said.

"Well I don't mind it, I just hope it works out for them", Aleski said. Natasha raised an eyebrow at him.

"Why wouldn't it work?" she asked.

"Because it's the first time I have ever heard of a human-Sangheili relationship, who knows if it can even work", Aleski said.

"Well someone has to find out, and I am more than willing to give it a go", Will said, grinning at Faye.

A Marine came running down the corridor before anyone could speak, skidding to a stop when he arrived at the group. He bent over, breathing heavily. The group looked at him with curiosity.

"You...need to...front...now", he said between breaths.

"Take your time Marine, we can't understand what you're saying until you've caught your breath", Will told him. The Marine took a couple of deep breaths, before standing back up.

"Thank you sir", he said, before turning serious, "Captain Lovitz wants all of you outside now, it's serious."

"How serious?" Will asked as he started speed walking down the corridor, the Marine next to him and the squad not far behind him.

"A Covenant Assault carrier just appeared over the city sir", the Marine told him.

"Oh shit, isn't that one of the big ones?" Natasha asked.

"Yes, capable of deploying over 18,000 troops when completely full", Faye said.

"Well then, we better hurry!" Will said, starting to pick up the pace.

* * *

"Shipmaster, we are now directly above the city", one of the Brute officers said.

"And are the troops ready?" Vrentanum asked as he sat in his seat, now wearing his dark golden War Chieftain armour. He had a lot of weapons on him, consisting of two Spikers, a portable Plasma cannon, several Spiker grenades, and a Gravity hammer, which was leaning against his seat.

"Yes sir, all 10,000 of them", the officer said. Vrentanum grinned, standing up. He had been a little bit disappointed when he had been given a depleted force to fight with, but he knew whatever he had vastly outnumbered whatever the Humans and Sangheili had.

"Good, deploy the troops immediately and have Banshees provide cover for them", he ordered. A few seconds later, over 150 Phantoms, supported by close to 50 Banshees exited the Hangar, making their way down to the city below.

"Shipmaster, the ground force has reported that they have successfully cleared the ground below the ship", another officer informed him.

"Activate the Gravity lift then, and begin sending Hunters and our vehicles down it. Have them join up with the rest of the forces once they land", Vrentanum ordered. The officer nodded, pressing a few buttons, activating the Gravity lift. With the Gravity lift now active, the Hunters and Covenant vehicles that had been waiting entered the lift, slowly descending to the ground.

"Maintain our current altitude and make sure to shoot down any enemy ships or aircraft that try to give them support", he ordered, before leaving the bridge, picking up his Gravity hammer as he went. As the bridge door opened, he was met by a Brute Captain Ultra in Cobalt armour, who gave him a quick salute. "Captain Vabaltus, I assume my bodyguard is ready", Vrentanum said as he walked past the Captain.

"Of course sir, twenty of your fiercest warriors are ready and waiting at the hangar. They are fully equipped and very eager to fight the human scum, as am I", Vabaltus happily reported, walking alongside his leader. Vrentanum nodded.

"Good, they will not have to wait long, for I too look forward to fighting the humans. I just hope there are Sangheili down there as well", he said. Vabaltus looked at his Chieftain in confusion.

"Why sir?" he asked. Vrentanum grinned at him.

"Because if there is anything I hate more than a human, it is a Sangheili, and I would like nothing more than to tear a few of those traitorous split-jaws in half", he told Vabaltus, who nodded in agreement. "Now go, you are in charge of getting the troops into position ready for battle, and I expect it to be done by the time I get to the frontline." Vabaltus turned, saluting his Chieftain.

"It will be done sir", he said, before running off. Vrentanum smirked.

'_It'll be good to be on the ground, killing human scum with my bare hands once again'_, he thought to himself. It had been almost a month since he had been on the ground, and he had certainly missed it. But it had been well worth the wait, and now he had plenty of humans to kill, and he was going to enjoy every minute of it. _'Let's not forget the added bonus of killing those accursed squid-heads', he told himself. _Vrentanum smirked once again; it was going to be a good couple of days.

**Hope you all liked that, next we will get into some more action (finally, I hear you all say XD)**

**Anyway, more updates are on the way, please reveiw, follow and favourite if you enjoyed it ;)**

**P.s. Aleski X his sniper rifle is now the best ship XD**


	22. Preparations

**Yes, this was a very quick update. I've finally arrived at the part of the story that I have been planning since I started this thing, so hopefully there will be no more writers block.**

**I think it's about time I informed you that we are getting into the final section of the story. There will probably be 10 more chapters at most, but don't worry I have a sequel planned so if you liked this, you won't have to wait too long for the next one :D**

**Not much else to say really. I hope you all enjoy the chapter ;)**

**P.s. This should be the final chapter where the reviews are slightly messed up (sorry Konner N7)**

**Chapter 22**

**London, UK, Earth**

**November 16****th**** 2552. 16:03 hours**

As the group exited ONI headquarters they were met by the daunting sight of the Covenant Assault Carrier, which loomed over the city. Though it was a couple miles away from their position, it was still large enough to cast a shadow over the entire area.

"Captain Lovitz is over there with the rest of the ODST's and Elites", the Marine said, pointing ahead of the group, "I have to go now, I need to get back to my squad, good luck sir."

"You too", Will said, before making his way over to Archer. The rest of Wills squad and the Elites were gathered round a Scorpion tank, obviously talking about something. Archer noticed the group approaching and waved them over.

"You better have cleared everything up, because we need to be able work together now more than even", he told them, before taking a map out of his rucksack and laying on top of the Scorpion. "I am afraid we are going have to skip the defence plan, given the current situation. For now I want all of us to stay in this middle sector of the barricade, the Marines will hold our flanks with support from the Warthogs and Scorpions", he told them.

"Sir that ship could hold up to 18,000 men, and we only number a few hundred, how are we supposed to be them?" Aleski asked.

"We have just over 300 to be exact, and we will get to that problem when it comes. Right now we need to set up as best we can, otherwise they'll overrun us before we can even get a shot off", Archer explained.

"Will the UNSC be providing air support?" Thon asked. Archer sighed, shaking his head.

"We've tried radioing for backup, but we haven't received a reply yet. I'm hoping that's just because the Assault Carrier is here, because if it isn't it doesn't bode well for how we are faring out there", he said, looking up at the sky.

"No air support, how the hell are we gonna do this then?" Natasha asked.

"We have some advantages. We have a heavily entrenched position, armour support, and a whole lot of ammo to get through", Archer told her, before looking over the barricade, "Plus the only way they can get to us on foot is by going through the large courtyard in front of us, which means they will be completely exposed."

"Well I guess that'll have to do for now, what's the plan sir?" Will asked the Captain.

"We hold this position for as long as we can, and hope that reinforcements or air support arrives soon, otherwise we'll be in a whole lot of trouble", Archer explained.

"God, this is starting to feel like Reach all over again", Shawn said.

"Well this better not end like Reach, otherwise I am docking your all your salaries for a month", Archer joked, before turning serious again, "Anyway, my squad will form up around me, we will hold the right side of the middle sector."

"And my lance will do the same, and we will hold the left side", Vito said. The ODST's and Elites nodded in understanding. Vito turned to Archer, "Good luck out there."

"You too," Archer said, before turning to the ODST's, "Right then, let's do this thing. Squad, on me", he ordered, moving towards the barricade, the rest of the squad not far behind him. Vito and his lance did the same, taking cover behind the barricade. "Marines, get to your positions!" Archer ordered. The Marines complied, taking up their positions on the barricade. The supporting armour, consisting of two Scorpion tanks and eight Warthogs, some armed with the regular heavy machine gun, while others had the Gauss cannon; moved into position behind the Marines, ready to cover them. One Scorpion moved right behind the ODST's and Elites, making Shawn grin.

"I think we may have just maxed out on badassery guys. In fact the only way this could be more badass is if we were all Spartans", he said.

"I think you concentrate less on the 'badassery' and more on getting out of here alive", Drew suggested.

"Scientific research has shown there is a direct link between badassery and squad survivability, so I think it's best if I ignored your suggestion", Shawn told him.

"Oh really, and who did this research?" Drew asked him.

"Me of course, there is no one in the entire galaxy that is more qualified in the study of badasstogoly", he answered. The rest of his squad looked at him, raising their eyebrows.

"Really, badasstogoly?" Will asked in an amused tone.

"It's a legitimate field, you probably haven't heard of it because you aren't as badass as me", Shawn told them. Natasha slapped him over the head.

"Haven't you ever heard of the word modesty?" she asked him. He smiled sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head.

"Yes, though the word has never really called to me", he said. Archer shook his head, grinning to himself.

"Come on guys, we have a mission to do right now", he reminded them.

"Aww come on sir, you're spoiling all the fun", Shawn said.

"If you want to blame anyone for that, blame to the Covenant. I would happily let you guys socialise if it weren't for them", Archer said, before turning to Aleski, "Aleski, can you see what they're doing out there?" Aleski nodded, looking down his sniper rifle.

"I see a whole lot of Banshees and Phantoms coming out of the hangar. They're also dropping down Hunters and armour using a Gravity lift", he told the Captain, before scoping in on the ground below, "I can just see them starting to move down the street towards us, they're about a mile off, and there is a Scarab with them."

"Great, as if this day wasn't already bad enough", Lindsay mumbled. Archer shook his head, before looking at the rest of his squad.

"Even with the two Scorpion tanks, we're gonna have trouble taking the Scarab down. We need some extra firepower, but without air support that seems unlikely", he said. Suddenly something clicked in his head and he turned to Drew. "Drew, I need you to go check if there is a communications room, it may give us a better chance at contacting someone. Take Shawn and Natasha with you", he ordered.

"Yes sir", Drew said, before looking at Shawn and Natasha, "Come on you two, let's get to it." Shawn turned to Archer.

"But sir, I'm going to miss all the badass action", he moaned.

"You will if you don't hurry up, now go", Archer told him. Shawn made his best puppy dog eyes.

"Please sir", he begged.

"No", was all Archer said. Shawn sighed, following Drew and Natasha.

"Fine then, you guys have all the fun, I'll be in here using the boring old radio with boring old Drew", he mumbled to himself. Natasha chuckled, patting him on the shoulder.

"Come on now, I'm sure someone as badass as you can find some fun out of using a radio", she said sarcastically. Shawn didn't seem to pick up on the sarcasm though, and grinned at her.

"You're right, I'll do it, for badasstogoly!" he shouted, before running inside. Drew sighed.

'_Great, Shawn's in one of those moods again. I can tell this day is going to be so much fun already"_, he thought to himself as he entered the building, a giggling Natasha not far behind him.

* * *

Thon shook his head as he watched Shawn run into the building.

"Are you sure he's not crazy?" he asked Faye. She chuckled.

"He certainly isn't normal, though I think Will would prefer it if we referred to him as eccentric", she said. Thon grinned at her.

"Oh yes, Will, your bondmate. You never told me how the two of you got together", he said. Faye blushed.

"You want me to tell you right now, with the rest of our lance within hearing distance?!" she asked in surprise. Thon chuckled, rolling his eyes.

"Fine, but you better tell me later. Can't let my little sis' date someone I know nothing about can I, our parents would be ashamed of me if I allowed it", he said. Faye shook her head.

"Okay, I'll tell you later, but don't expect for a detailed description, I have to do something with Will", she told him.

"So much for keeping the relationship to yourselves, I'm sure everyone is going to hear that", Thon joked. Faye hit her brother over the head.

"That's not what I meant!" she said, blushing quite badly.

"Give it a rest now you two, you're starting to annoy Ygar, which is in turn annoying me", Vito told them.

"Sorry sir, we'll save it for later", Thon apologised.

"Good, because the Covenant are now here", he told them. The lance, along with the entire defence force, looked across the large courtyard to see several windows getting broken as Covenant troops took positions in them. The roads leading into the courtyard were filled with Covenant troops and vehicles, with the dreaded Scarab not far behind them. Vito turned to look at Faye, "Let's hope your human friends can get that air support soon."

Faye nodded, turning back to look at the courtyard, when she heard a voice come from her radio.

"Faye, are you there?" Will asked, causing her to jump slightly.

"Will, what are you doing, everyone can hear us", she whispered into her radio.

"Don't worry, this is a private channel, it's just you and me", he told her, before sighing, "I just wanted to tell you something before the Covenant arrive, before everything goes to shit again."

"What did you want to tell me?" she asked him.

"I know you're a trained warrior and everything, but I want you to know that if I lose you I won't be able to live with myself. We may have only known each other for a few days, but you've grown on me so much during that time, and I love you for it. So please, stay safe out there, for me", he told her. She blushed madly, her hearts skipping a beat.

"Will, I love you too, and I fee exactly the same way. So yes, I promise I will stay safe out there, but only if you do too", she said. Will chuckled slightly.

"I promise, now go out there and kick some ass", he said. She smiled.

"You too, my love", she said. He didn't reply after that, leaving Faye with her thoughts.

'_I will stay alive and we will win this, for Sanghelios, for my family, for my love.'_

* * *

Several Grunts and Jackals moved out of the way as a Phantom landed on the road, a few metres behind the Scarab. Its side doors opened, allowing Vrentanum and his bodyguard to step out. Whereas Vrentanum's armour was a dark gold, his bodyguard wore greyish-blue armour. They also carried different weapons from him, ranging from Brute Plasma rifles to Maulers.

Upon seeing their arrival, Vabaltus went up to his leader, saluting him. Vrentanum turned to his Captain.

"Captain Vabaltus, I hope you have some good news", he said.

"Our troops have surrounded the building on three sides, with the fourth side being covered by the river. There is nowhere for them to run", Vabaltus told his Chieftain proudly.

"Good, and have you managed to find out what sort of defences they have?" Vrentanum asked. The Brute Captain nodded.

"Kig-Yar scouts report that they have an estimated 300 soldiers guarding the building, consisting of ODST's, Marines, and Sangheili. On top of that they have armour support, and are well dug in with a barricade surrounding the building", Vabaltus reported. Vrentanum sighed.

"Only 300, how boring, I was expecting more resistance", he said, before shrugging, "Oh well, just send in the first battalion to clear them out, but make sure you capture at least one human and one Sangheili."

"Why sir?" Vabaltus asked.

"We need a human to access the data the Prophets seek, something that would take too long without one", Vrentanum told him, before grinning, "And as for the Sangheili prisoner, that will be for entertainment purposes." Vabaltus grinned.

"Speaking of prisoners, we managed to capture a human Marine. He tried to sneak past us as we were surrounding the building, but the stupid human walked straight into me", he told Vrentanum.

"And is he still alive?" Vrentanum asked. Vabaltus nodded, still grinning.

"A few broken ribs, but yes, he is alive. We decided to wait until you had arrived to deal with him", he said. Vrentanum chuckled, patting the Brute Captain on the back.

"I think you and I are going to get along very well", he said.

"Thank you sir, do you wish to see him now?" Vabaltus asked.

"No, we will deal with him later. Right now, I want you to get rid of the human and Sangheili scum that are currently holding the ONI building", Vrentanum told him. Vabaltus saluted again.

"It will be done sir", he said before running off. Vrentanum turned to his bodyguard, grinning.

"Find me an accessible roof, I wish to enjoy the show."

* * *

Drew, Shawn and Natasha made their way up a flight of stairs, soon arriving at the second floor of the ONI building. As they made their way down the corridor, they noticed there were smaller versions of the barricade that surrounded the building that blocked off the corridor, forcing the small group to climb over them.

"So does anyone know why we have barricades up here now?" Shawn asked as he climbed over one of them.

"They're here just in case we lose the courtyard and the first floor, and are forced to fall back. This is the final position we would hold, as it covers the data storage room, which is what we can assume the Covenant is here for", Drew told them.

"I assume by final position, you mean a last stand scenario", Shawn said.

"Given the circumstances required for us to be here, yes. Captain Lovitz has placed the explosives we were given at key places in the building, and if all else fails; he will detonate them to prevent the Covenant from getting the data stored here", Drew explained.

"Well I for one hope we don't have to resort to that, I think most of us would prefer to get out of this alive", Natasha said.

"Amen to that", Drew said. They passed the data storage room, eventually finding a room marked 'Communications center'. Drew sighed in relief, "Thank god the Captain was right, I don't think we'll be able to win this fight without air support."

"Not with that attitude we won't", Shawn said before entering the room, the others right behind him.

The room was filled with consoles, ranging from Slipspace communications to simple radios. Shawn jumped on one of the chairs, throwing his helmet off and moving closer to one of the radio consoles.

"I don't think we'll need a Slipspace communicator, we're only trying to get in contact with a ship or aircraft near the city. Besides, I don't think any of us would know how to work it", he said, before looking around the console, "Okay, now how do we turn this thing on?"

"Maybe it's the button that says on", Natasha suggested, pointing at the button. Shawn smiled sheepishly at her.

"Ah yes, I knew that, I was just testing you, and I am glad to say you've passed", he said, before pressing the button. The console didn't respond. "Why isn't it turning on?" he asked, pressing the button several more times, to no avail.

"Try the other consoles", Drew ordered. The three of them moved round the room, checking each console. None of them worked.

"For fucks sake, none of them work! Why does this always happen just when you need to use it?!" Shawn shouted as leaned back in his seat.

"Drew, how's it going up there?" Archer asked through the radio.

"Well we found the communications room, which is a positive", Drew told him.

"Good to hear, have you made contact with anyone yet?" Archer asked. Drew rubbed the back of his head.

"Well, about that, it seems none of the consoles are working", he told Archer.

"Well get them working, it won't be long before the Covenant arrive and we need that air support", Archer ordered.

"Yes sir", Drew replied, before turning to Natasha and Shawn, "You heard him."

"Drew, I'm not a technician, how the hell am I supposed to fix it?" Shawn asked. Drew looked at Natasha, who just shrugged at him. He sighed.

"Fine then, I'll do it", he said, before pulling out his Combat knife, using it to open up a panel on the side of the console. His eyes widened when he saw what was inside. "Holy shit, this looks extremely complicated", he said.

"Can you do it?" Natasha asked him.

"I've got to try haven't I", he said, before looking back inside the panel, "Shawn, be ready for when I get this thing working, we need that air support as soon as possible. And Natasha, take the radio just in case the Captain tries to contact us."

* * *

"Captain Vabaltus, are the troops ready?" Vrentanum asked through his radio.

"Yes sir, all the troops are accounted for and ready to move out on your command", Vabaltus replied.

"Attack with everything from the first battalion except from the Scarab, I do not wish to risk damaging it unless we have to", Vrentanum ordered.

"Yes sir", Vabaltus said. The Brute captain turned to the Covenant troops, raising his Spiker. "First battalion, storm that building, for the Covenant empire!" he shouted. The Covenant troops cheered in reply, before grabbing their weapons and vehicles. They then turned, and began marching towards ONI headquarters.

Vrentanum grinned as he watched the large force of over 1000 troops moving towards the ONI building. Those pathetic humans and traitorous Sangheili didn't stand a chance against even one tenth of his army, let alone the entire thing. A sane person would have surrendered given the odds, yet none of the humans or Sangheili had done so, which made Vrentanum rather happy. He much preferred the satisfaction of killing an enemy that could fight back rather than a prisoner that couldn't. Of course if everything went according to plan he wouldn't be involved in any action today, which angered him.

'_Vabaltus better hope the prisoners he captures are willing to fight, otherwise I might just take my anger out on him.'_

**Bit of a buildup chapter there. Don't worry though, these final chapters will be action packed ;)**

**Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed that. Please review, follow and favourite, more updates are on the way ;)**


	23. Holding the line

**Yay for getting back to more regular updates, I guess that's what happens when you spend all your time looking forward to writing these parts :D**

**One reviewer pointed out that my story lacked quite a bit of description, so I have tried to fix that in this chapter. Please tell me how it went, I'm always looking to improve my writing style :D**

**Important note, I have set a up poll in regards to my earlier chapters, please vote if you have the time :D**

**Anyway, on-wards with the chapter. I hope you all enjoy it ;)**

**Chapter 23**

**London, UK, Earth**

**November 16****th**** 2552. 16:27 hours**

"Here they come!" Aleski shouted, watching the approaching Covenant force through his scope. The battalion of over 1000 Covenant troops made their way across the courtyard, kicking up dust as they did so. There were a few Brutes in the front ranks of the battalion, but most of the infantry at the front were Grunts and Jackals, with the remainder of the Brute bringing up the rear. There were no Hunters in the force, who were kept back due to their in-agility.

Supporting the infantry was about thirty or so vehicles, five of which were Wraiths. The Wraiths stayed in the middle of the force, their main guns pointed upwards, ready to fire. The rest of the Covenant vehicles, consisting of Ghosts, Revenants, and Spectres, stayed just behind the front ranks, ready to charge forward at high speeds when needed.

Several hundred metres across the courtyard, the combined UNSC-Sangheili force watched as the large Covenant battalion got closer and closer. Some of the Marines, along with Thon and Lindsay, were using machine guns that were mounted onto the barricade. They were using two different types of machine gun, a lighter M247 general purpose machine gun, and the M247H, which was the heavier variant. The UNSC armour was just behind them, their weapons pointed at the opposing armour, ready to fire when they got in range.

The Marines themselves were armed with standard issue weapons, most of them having the MA5C. Some were more specialised, having sniper rifles and rocket launchers, but they were more of a minority.

And finally there was the rest of the Elite lance. There were ten of them, with most of them, including Faye, being Minors. They were all armed with standard issue weapons, such as Plasma rifles and Needler, except for Faye, who had her Covenant carbine out. The only Elites who weren't Minors were Vito (Ultra), Thon and Ygar (Majors). They were armed less than standard weapons, with Vito having a Needle rifle, Thon his Plasma rifle, and Ygar a Fuel Rod cannon.

Three Banshees flew over the Covenant force, diving at high speeds towards ONI headquarter, and the combined UNSC-Sangheili force protecting it. They opened fire with their twin Plasma cannons, strafing the ground below

"Banshees inbound, get down!" Archer ordered. Those that weren't in the vehicles took cover behind the barricade as the plasma shots came flying in, while those that were took cover behind whatever past of their vehicle they could. One of the Marines on the back of a standard Warthog was killed as several plasma shots hit him across the chest. The Banshees, having completed their strafing run, flew over the heads of the defenders, climbing back up into the sky.

"Get someone on that Warthog, and be ready for when the Banshees come back!" he ordered. A Marine quickly jumped onto the Warthogs turret, turning the heavy machine gun to face the Banshees as they flew through the air.

"They're coming back around!" he shouted. Archer nodded, before turning to his radio.

"All armour, concentrate your firepower on those Banshees, take them down!" he ordered. The Scorpion tanks and Warthogs turned their main weapons to face the Banshees as they streaked through the air towards them.

The three Banshees barrel rolled, before diving down toward the ONI building; firing their twin Plasma cannons at the combined UNSC-Sangheili force again. This time however the defenders were ready, and the UNSC armour returned fire. Overwhelmed by the superior firepower, two of the Banshees were shot out of the sky, while the other one turned tail and flew off.

"Yeah, that'll teach them to mess with us!" the Marine on the Warthog shouted.

"Good job everyone!" Archer said, before turning back to the approaching Covenant force, "Now let's deal with their ground forces!"

A Brute Major, upon seeing the defeat of the Banshees, roared loudly, pointing forward with its Spiker. The Covenant battalion began charging, while the armour broke formation, making their way towards the ONI building. The lighter vehicles such as the Ghosts, Revenants and Spectres raced ahead of the battalion and the heavier, slower Wraiths, firing their heavy plasma weapons at their enemies. Will ducked behind the barricade as the plasma shots bounced off it.

"Here comes their armour!" he shouted. Archer nodded, turning to his radio.

"Target those light vehicles with our heavy weapons, take them out before they can get too close!" he ordered. The Marines quickly turned the mounted machine guns to face the enemy, before opening fire on them. The pilots of two Ghosts and a Revenant were killed pretty quickly as the heavy machine gun fire came flying in, causing the vehicles to careen off course, smashing into each other and blowing up in a blue flame.

As this happened, Ygar aimed over the barricade, firing several shots from his Fuel rod cannon into the Covenant armour. Two of shots struck home, destroying a Spectre and another Ghost. The other two shots hit the ground, the resulting explosion knocking several nearby vehicles into each other, killing their pilots and disabling the vehicles themselves. The final few vehicles managed to make it to within fifty metres of the barricade, but they were all swiftly destroyed by Gauss cannons and the Scorpion tanks. Archer looked over at the courtyard, now filled with the burning wrecks of the Covenant vehicles, smiling to himself.

"Good job guys, just the Wraiths and infantry to deal with", he told them, before turning to Aleski, "How far away are they?" Aleski looked down his scope, shooting one of the Grunts on a Wraith as he did so.

"The infantry's still charging at us, but the Wraiths stopped at about 600 metres sir, I think they're preparing to fire", he told the Captain. Aleski suspicions were conformed when the Wraiths aimed their heavy Plasma mortars at the combined UNSC-Sangheili force, before firing.

"Incoming fire, take cover!" Archer shouted as the five blue streaks of plasma flew high up into the air. The plasma travelled relatively slow, giving the Marines, ODST's and Sangheili enough time to move the way. Most of plasma shots missed their intended targets, hitting the barricade or unoccupied areas of ground as the soldiers who had once occupied it jumped out of the way. But one of the shots managed to hit a standard Warthog dead-on, blowing it up and killing its gunner.

"Shit, we just lost a Warthog!" Will shouted, before peeking over cover and killing one of the Wraith gunners with his BR85.

"Concentrate fire on the Wraiths; take them out before they can shoot again!" Archer ordered. The Scorpions and Warthogs opened fire upon the Wraiths, quickly knocking out two of them thanks to a combination of tank shells, Gauss slugs, and armour piercing rounds. The three remaining Wraiths prepared to fire again as the first ranks of the battalion came charging past them, opening fire with their own weapons. Faye dropped several Grunts with her carbine before ducking behind the barricade.

"Infantry's closing fast!" she shouted, reloading her weapon. Vito nodded, before turning to Archer.

"Tell your men to wait for my signal, and then hit the Covenant with everything they've got! We have to time our attack perfectly, too soon and it won't have the desired effect, too late and they will overrun us!" he shouted. Archer nodded before turning his radio again.

"All Scorpions and Warthogs, keep firing at those Wraiths, everyone else, hold fire till Vito 'Zamamee gives the order!" he ordered, slamming another clip into his DMR.

Another Wraith was put out of action as a tank shell penetrated its armour, before detonating inside, killing the crew and any Covenant troops near it. The final two Wraiths started to reverse, firing their heavy Plasma mortars again, this time aimed at the two Scorpion tanks.

"Plasma shots inbound, full reverse!" one of the Scorpion drivers shouted. The Scorpion tanks reversed as quickly as they could as the plasma shots started to come back down towards them. One of the Scorpions managed to fully dodge the plasma shots, while the over one was close enough to have it track damaged in the resulting explosion, forcing it to stop.

"Oh you're gonna pay for that asshole!" the driver shouted, before looking over at his fellow Scorpion driver, "Target the one on the left, take that son of a bitch out!" The two tanks fired, their shells hitting the Wraith a mere second after each other, destroying it with ease. The final Wraith started to reverse at full speed as another Gauss slug came flying in, killing its gunner. Vito looked at the retreating Wraith, before turning to Ygar.

"Finish it off!" he ordered. Ygar nodded before aiming over the barricade, firing the final four shots from his Fuel Rod cannon. The shots flew through the air, only taking a few seconds to close the distance to the Wraith. Two of the shots managed to hit the Covenant vehicle, finishing it off, while the other two shots landed nearby, killing several of the Charging Covenant troops in the process.

Ygar put his now empty Fuel rod cannon on his back, before drawing Concussion rifle. He looked round at the other members of his lance, before looking back at his lance leader.

"The enemy armour is destroyed sir, the lance is ready for your next orders", he said. Vito nodded, before turning to his radio.

"Report, is everyone ready?" he asked.

"This is Archer; the ODST's are ready and willing."

"Staff Sergeant Nantz here, the Marines are ready to bring the pain on your orders."

"Private Green reporting in, all Scorpions and Warthogs are ready to send these assholes back to the hellhole they came from." Vito nodded once all of their replies had come through.

"Good", he said, before raising his Needle rifle and aiming it at the charging Covenant battalion, "On my command, send them on their so-called great journey."

"540 metres and closing fast!" Aleski told everyone as he watched the battalion approach through his scope.

"Keep counting down, we fire at 500 metres!" Vito ordered.

"530 metres..."

"Ready..." Those who hadn't reloaded quickly did so, before the force as a whole to a deep breath, preparing themselves.

"...520 metres..."

"...take aim..." The combined UNSC-Sangheili force responded, breaking cover to aim their weapons at oncoming Covenant battalion. Those who were on turrets, such as Thon and Lindsay, stood back up, aiming them at the very heart of their charging enemy. They stood fast, even as the Covenant fired their various weapons at them. Even while standing up, they were still relatively safe behind the barricade, with only their heads and chests exposed (though this meant the Sangheili were far more exposed than the humans, given their height).

"...510 metres..."

Two Marines were hit by the incoming plasma fire as they aimed over the barricade. One was killed instantly as the shot hit him in the face, while the other was forced to take cover as the shot hit his shoulder, tightly grasping it with his hand. Faye was also hit by several plasma shots, but her shields protected her from any damage. She growled at the slight inconvenience, continuing to aim at the charging Covenant battalion, ready to fire at a moment's notice.

"...500 metres!" Aleski told them.

"...Fire!" Vito ordered, firing his Needle rifle. The rest of the defence force quickly responded, firing all their weapons into the oncoming Covenant troops. The Covenant troops were taken by surprise; their first three ranks being almost entirely annihilated as everything from machine guns to tank shells were fired at them. The rest of the Covenant battalion tried to take cover behind the burning wrecks of their vehicles, but few managed to do so as they cut down by the heavy machine gun fire. Thon smirked as he dropped a Brute and several Grunts with relative ease.

"I like this weapon!" he shouted to his sister. She rolled her eyes, before killing several Grunts and Jackals with her carbine.

Meanwhile Will unloaded the remainder of his BR85 clip into two Grunts and a Jackal who had taken cover behind a disabled Wraith, before ducking behind cover. He reloaded his battle rifle, before putting on the ground and pulling out two M9 grenades.

"Aleski catch!" he shouted, throwing one of the grenades to Aleski. Aleski caught the grenade, looking at it with a confused expression.

"What do you want me to do with this?" he asked.

"Throw them at the enemies behind cover; we can't let them get take advantage of it!" Will told him. Aleski nodded in understanding, before both them pulled the pins on the grenades and throwing them over the barricade. Both grenades landed on target, right in-between the Covenant troops in cover, before detonating, killing all of them instantly. Archer nodded at Will as he picked his battle rifle up again.

"Good tactic", he said, before turning to his radio, "Target the Covenant troops hiding behind the vehicles with grenades and explosive weapons, force them out of cover!"

The Scorpions and Warthogs turned their turrets once again, firing at the flaming wrecks of the Covenant vehicles, keeping the Covenant troops pinned down. With those Covenant troops now stuck behind cover, and the others getting mown down by machine gun fire, the Marines took the chance to pull out their frag grenades. They pulled the pin on the grenades, before throwing them into the air. Some managed to hit their targets dead-on, while others missed by a few metres, but in the end they all achieved their aims. The grenades exploded, killing the Covenant troops or forcing them out of cover, straight into the path of machine gun fire.

Overwhelmed by the defenders superior firepower and positioning, the moral of the Covenant battalion soon broke, and they turned tail and ran. The defenders cheered as they watched the Covenant retreat.

"Keep pouring it on them, the more we deal with now the better!" Archer ordered. The combined UNSC-Sangheili force continued to fire at the retreating battalion until they got out of range, before cheering again.

"Holy shit, we actually did it!" one the Marines shouted, not quite believing it himself.

"It's not over yet, that was just the first wave, there'll be more to come, including that Scarab. Gather weapons and ammunition, reload all the machine guns and be ready for when they come at us again!" Archer ordered. As the Marines went about their orders, Archer turned to his radio. "Drew, how's it going up there?" he asked.

* * *

"This is Natasha, Drew's fixing the console as we speak", Natasha told him.

"Well tell him that he needs to hurry up, we've beaten back the first wave of Covenant troops, but we're going to need that air support for when they attack again", Archer said.

"Okay sir, good luck out there", Natasha said, before turning to Drew, "That was Archer, he says they've just beaten back the first wave, but he wants you to fix the console before they attack again."

"Yep, working on it", he told her, his arm deep within the console as he rooted around for something to fix. Shawn span around on his chair, looking at Natasha.

"We missed the first battle?! Damn it!" he cursed, before spinning his chair round to face Drew, "Hurry up would you, we're missing all the fun!"

"Damn it Shawn I'm a medic not a technician, I'm trying my best!" Drew told him. Shawn snorted, spinning around on his chair.

"Great, everyone else is having fun out there, and I'm stuck in here with the lord of all things boring", he mumbled to himself, before groaning. It was going to be a long time before he could be a badass again.

* * *

Vrentanum exited the building as what remained of the heavily depleted first battalion came back, stomping over towards Vabaltus. He grabbed the Captain by his amour, pulling him in closer.

"How is it that over 1000 of our troops cannot beat a couple hundred of theirs?! Are ours not better?!" he asked, growling at the Captain.

"S-sir, they have better positioning, our infantry is getting slaughtered trying to reach them", Vabaltus told him. Vrentanum growled, before throwing the Brute Captain to the ground.

"Rally the first battalion, and send them back in along with the second battalion. I want the Scarab to go with them as well, along with an increased number of armour and air support", he ordered, before turning away, "If you fail me again, you will suffer greatly, do you understand?" Vabaltus picked himself up, before giving a rather hesitant salute.

"Yes sir", he said.

"Then what are you waiting for, get to it!" Vrentanum shouted. Vabaltus jumped, before running off to give the Covenant troops their orders. The Brute War Chieftain shook his head, before turning to one of his bodyguards, "I can't trust Vabaltus to get the job done, bring up the Stalker squads, and make sure there are three Phantoms ready for them." The bodyguard saluted, before running off to complete its orders.

It didn't take long for the Brute bodyguard to return, the Stalker squads right behind it. Brute stalkers were amongst the most distinguishable of all the Brute soldiers, their Cyclops-like helmets and gray-coloured armour being distinctive among the other classes. They were armed with standard Brute weapons, such as the Brute Plasma rifle and the Brute shot, but were unique in the fact they had cloaking, making them excellent infiltrators. They gave Vrentanum a sharp salute once they had arrived, making the War Chieftain grin slightly.

"We are ready for your orders sir", the Stalker Captain said.

"Good, the reason we are all here is because the Prophets believe there is something of great use in the ONI building, something that will help us on our great journey. Your mission is simple, infiltrate the building and get that information. It is unlikely there will be anyone in the building, so you shouldn't encounter any resistance", Vrentanum told them.

"What if we can't access the data sir?" the Stalker Captain asked. Vrentanum snorted.

"Its human technology, even the stupidest of Unggoy would be able to hack into it, you will have no trouble", he told them.

"We will not fail you sir", the Stalker Captain promised.

"Good, there are three Phantoms waiting for you, I suggest you get going", Vrentanum told them, though they all knew the suggestion was really just a polite order. The Stalker squad saluted, before making their way towards the Phantoms. Vrentanum grinned, before turning back to his bodyguard.

"I've had enough of watching Vabaltus fail for one day, take me to the prisoner, I wish to have some fun."

**I hope you guys enjoyed that, next time some stuff will happen, and it will be written :O**

**Anyway, stay tuned for more updates, and as always, have a nice day ;)**


	24. Second time's a charm?

**I am so sorry for taking so long to update. A mixture of writers block and just not wanting to write have been the main causes for it, but I mostly over it now. So hopefully I'll be able to update a lot faster now :P**

**In other news I have decided what fic I will be doing once this one is finished. It's not the sequel I'm afraid, quite frankly I want a break from Halo to write about something I've been meaning to do for almost a year now. But don't worry, I will get to the sequel in time :/**

**Anyway, sorry once again for the long time between updates, please enjoy :D **

**Chapter 24**

**London, UK, Earth**

**November 16****th**** 2552. 16:56 hours**

The Brute bodyguard lead Vrentanum into one of the nearby buildings, which had been turned into the Covenant's forward operations base. The corridor they walked though was littered with broken pieces of glass and rumble, which the Brutes had not bothered to clear up due to a mixture of being in such a rush to attack their enemies, and frankly being too lazy to bother.

Either side of a locked door at the end of the corridor were two Brute Minors, who quickly stood to attention when they saw the War Chieftain and his bodyguard coming down the corridor. The bodyguard who had led the group turned back to Vrentanum when they had arrived at the door.

"The human prisoner is in here sir", he told the War Chieftain. He made a gesture at the two Minors, who quickly unlocked the door.

"Good, return to your posts and give me regular updates on the status of Vabaltus's forces, this will not take long", Vrentanum ordered. The Brute bodyguard saluted, before going back down the corridor, the rest of the bodyguard right behind him.

Vrentanum turned to the door, which was quickly opened for him by one of the Brute Minors. The War Chieftain slowly entered, squinting his eyes a bit as the doors were shut behind him.

The room was small and relatively dark, only illuminated by a small, bright light in the center of the room. The room itself was pretty much empty of all furniture or decorations, except for one chair that rested under the small bright right. And on top of that chair, sat the Marine prisoner, his arms and legs tied to the chair. His helmet and body amour had been ripped off him, leaving only his battle dress uniform, which was badly torn and was covered in blood.

"Good to see my men have been treating you well", Vrentanum joked, removing his helmet as he did so. The Marine looked up at the Brute War Chieftain, shaking his head.

"Please don't do that, Brutes and jokes don't go well together", he told Vrentanum, who chuckled in reply as he slowly approached the Marine.

"You still have a sense of humour I see, obviously my men haven't worked you over enough yet", he said, now standing over the Marine. He grinned down at the Marine, cracking his fists. "Looks like I'm going to have to change that", he said darkly. The Marine looked up at him, a mixture of fear and confusion on his face.

"W-what do you mean, what are you going to do to me?"

* * *

"Ah shit!" Aleski said as he watched the courtyard with his sniper rifle. He could see another Covenant force starting to move across the courtyard once again, but this time they had even more infantry, vehicles, and air support than before, not mention the powerful Scarab bringing up the rear of the force. Aleski turned to Captain Lovitz, "Captain, they're coming again! And this time they're bringing the Scarab with them!"

Archer turned, looking across the courtyard at the incoming Covenant force. It had seemed they had learned from last time, and were charging straight at the defence force instead of marching towards them. Several Wraiths led the assault, with the infantry moving up directly behind them, using the vehicles as cover. Archer looked up to see over ten Phantoms supporting the Covenant assault force, at least five of which were the Gunboat variant. Archer silently cursed, before looking back at the rest of the defence force.

"Get back into your positions, this is going to be harder than last time!" he told them. The combined UNSC-Sangheili force quickly obeyed his command, dropping whatever they had been doing to take up position behind the barricade once more. As they did this Archer turned to his radio. "Natasha, this is Archer. The Covenant is attacking again and this time they are bringing up the Scarab, we need that air support now!" he said.

"Drew says he's working on it as fast as he can sir, just give us a little more time", Natasha told him. Archer sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose.

"We don't have any more time, tell him to get it done now!" Archer ordered.

"Yes sir", Natasha replied. Archer sighed, before looking at his squad, who were all looking back at him.

"I guess that means our air support isn't coming anytime soon", Will said.

"Another great development for what is turning out to be the best day of my life", Lindsay said sarcastically.

"Drew will get it done, trust me", Archer said, before moving along the barricade toward Vito and his lance. His squad quickly followed him, Lindsay bringing the heavy machine gun she was using with her. Vito noticed them coming towards him and quickly moved past Thon, Faye, and two other Elites to get to Archer.

"Captain Lovitz, I hope you've brought good news regarding air support, we could use it right about now", he said. Archer sighed, shaking his head.

"No, we're still having some trouble with that. For now we're going to have to hold out by ourselves", he told Vito, continuing to watch the approaching Covenant force as he did so. "Which is why I came here, I was wondering if you had any ideas on how to hold them off until the air support arrives, because right now I'm out of ideas", Archer admitted, sighing once again. Vito looked across the courtyard, his face scrunching up in thought, before he turned back to the ODST.

"The Covenant while most likely be using their Phantoms to drop infantry behind us, if that happens I suggest you leave them to my lance, we are much better at close-quarters combat than the Marines and most of your squad. Until that happens though, we should concentrate our fire on the Wraiths and Phantom Gunboats before they try to force us out of cover again", he told Archer.

"What about the Scarab, I'm pretty sure that's the main threat here", Will reminded them. Vito shook his head.

"It is, but we need to get rid of its supporting armour if we want any chance of beating it, especially without air support to help us. As for their infantry, that should be the primary target for the Marines. They won't be able to take them all down, but hopeful it will slow the Covenant force down long enough for us to be able to deal with the Scarab and the rest of the armour", he told them.

"And you think we'll be able to beat them with this tactic sir?" Faye asked.

"No", Vito answered bluntly, "But the plan isn't to beat them back, it's to hold them off until that air support arrives." One of the high ranking Marines, Staff Sergeant Nantz, slid into cover next to the group.

"Covenant battalion is closing in fast sir, what are our orders?" he asked. Archer looked at Vito, who nodded, before turning back to the SSgt.

"Tell the armour to focus their fire on the Wraiths and Phantom Gunboats, once that's done they need to target the Scarab with everything they've got. As for the Marines, I want to focus on the enemy infantry. Keep them pinned down and as far away from this position as possible. And if any Phantoms start dropping troops behind us, leave them to the Elites if you can", Archer told him.

"Yes sir, we'll get it done", SSgt Nantz said, before running back to the other Marines, relaying the orders he had just received to them.

Aleski scoped in again, shooting the head off a Brute chopper pilot, before looking upwards. The Phantoms had moved ahead of the rest of the battalion, Gunboats leading the way. Aleski turned back to Archer.

"Phantoms in-bound sir!" he told the Captain. Archer quickly ducked behind cover as Phantom Gunboats opened fire upon the defence force, killing three exposed Marines with its heavy plasma fire. He gritted his teeth, before turning to his radio.

"Marines, return fire! Hit them with everything we've got!" he ordered. The Marines quickly responded, firing at the Gunboats with their vehicles and heavy weaponry. Two Gunboats were quickly taken down, but not before their heavy plasma weapons wiped out an entire Warthog crew.

Three of the Phantom Dropships quickly flew overhead the defence force, before rising up over the building. Will turned to see each Phantom dropping about ten Brute Stalkers onto the roof, equally over thirty in total.

"Captain, thirty plus Brute Stalkers deploying on the roof, they're trying to enter the building!" he told Archer.

"Damn it, there's no way Drew, Shawn and Natasha can hold them all off alone, especially at close range", he said, before turning to Vito, "Vito, I need you to send a few of your Elites into the building. There's a group of about thirty Brute Stalkers entering it and my men won't be able to hold them off alone." The Sangheili Ultra nodded, before turning to his lance.

"Major 'Sumee and Minor 'Sumee, you both have the most experience working with humans. I want you to take two other Minors with you and deal with those Stalkers", he told them. Thon bowed, before motioning to Faye and the two Elite Minors. As the group of four took off towards the building, dodging plasma fire as they did so, Will turned to Archer.

"Sir let me go as well, they are my friends", he begged. Archer dropped several Grunts with his rifle, before sighing.

"Go then, but make sure to keep that information out if enemy hands!" he ordered. Will smiled, before sharply saluting the Captain.

"You can count on me sir!" he said confidently, before running off to catch up with the Elites. Lindsay rolled her eyes as she watched him run off.

"That should be me he is chasing after, not that bitch", she said bitterly.

"Lindsay, that's enough now! Concentrate on the Covenant battalion in front of you, you can deal with your jealousy problem when we're not getting shot at!" Archer ordered her, and not a moment too soon as the Wraiths and other Covenant vehicles opened fire upon their position, forcing the squad to take cover. "Open fire on the Covenant battalion!" Archer shouted into his radio.

The Marines opened up on the Covenant battalion, focusing their fire mainly on the Phantoms and vehicles. Another Gunboat, two Ghosts and a Wraith were quickly taken down in the hail of heavy fire. The Covenant responded though, destroying another Warthog with one of their Wraiths, and killing several more Marines thanks to a few well aimed plasma shots.

* * *

As the Covenant attack force engaged the defence force for the second time today, Vabaltus stood watch on the Scarabs deck. The Scarab was currently lingering back, almost 100 metres behind the rest of the battalion.

Vabaltus gritted his teeth in anger as he watched another Wraith get destroyed, before turning to a Grunt Minor, who was on a nearby console.

"Send us in, I want those scum wiped off the face of this wretched planet!" he ordered. The Grunt Minor quickly obeyed the orders of its superior, pressing a few buttons on it console. The Scarab responded, slowly starting to move towards the ONI building, its escort of four Phantom Gunboats and six Brute Choppers staying alongside it. Vabaltus grinned, before turning to another console, this time operated by a Brute Major.

"Prepare the main gun, I want it ready to fire on my command", he ordered, before turning back to look at the unfolding battle below. It wouldn't be long before the Scarab was in range, and when that happened it would final put an end to this pathetic rabble which dared to stand against the might of the Covenant Empire.

* * *

Drew stuck his arm into the console once more, attaching a few wires here and there.

"Still not working", Shawn said in a bored tone, spinning around on his chair once again, "They're fighting out there, I can hear them. And while they're doing that, we're stuck in here playing tech support. It's bullshit I tell you."

"Would you shut up, you've been talking almost non-stop ever since we got here. I'm almost finished anyway", Drew told them.

"It's about time, I haven't even got to use my baby yet", Shawn replied, stroking his Spartan laser tenderly. Natasha rolled her eyes, something she was doing more and more often around Shawn, though that really didn't surprise her.

"Lindsay, are you there?" Archer said through her radio, causing her to jump slightly.

"Y-yes sir, what is it?" she asked, quickly regaining her composure as she did so.

"You've got a group of about thirty Brute Stalkers on the roof, and there heading your way. I need you to hold them off until Thon comes with reinforcements", Archer told her. Shawn's face brightened up as he heard the news.

"Don't worry sir, we won't let them get past us", Natasha told him, before turning to Drew and Shawn, "Looks like we've got company." Shawn jumped out of his seat, Spartan laser in hand.

"Finally, some action! Drew, you stay here and get that air support, Natasha, you're with me. Lets kick some ass!" he said. Drew pulled his arm out of the console, turning to Shawn.

"Now hold on just a minute, I'm the-" he tried to say, only to discover Shawn had already left the room. Natasha merely shrugged her shoulders, before quickly leaving the room herself. Drew grumbled angrily, sticking his arm back into the console.

"One of these days Shawn, one of these days..." he trailed off as he got back to work on the console.

* * *

The group of four Elites made their way through the building, checking every room as they went. They may have been on the ground floor right now, but it was better to be safe than sorry.

The group quickly did a 180, raising their weapons as they heard footsteps behind them. They were relieved to find out it was only Will, who jumped when he saw all the weapons pointed at him.

"Whoa, it's just me, Will. There's no need to shoot guys", he said, raising his arms in a disarming fashion. Faye relaxed her weapon, before walking up to Will, shaking her head as she did so.

"Don't do that again, we thought you were a Brute for second there. Why are you even here?" she asked him. Will smiled under his helmet, taking one of her hands in his.

"I wanted to help my friends. Besides, can't I look after my girlfriend and protect her from harm?" he asked her. Faye blushed slightly.

"Will, I'm a fully trained Minor with two years of combat experience, I'm pretty sure I can take care of myself", she reassured him, before smiling, "But I appreciate the thought, it was very sweet of you." Before the couple could go any further, Thon cleared his throat, attracting their attention.

"If you had forgotten we have a mission to complete", he reminded them. The pair quickly moved apart from each other, blushing quite badly.

"Sorry, please lead on", Will insisted. Thon chuckled, before continuing down the hall, the rest of the group right behind him.

* * *

Shawn jumped over one of the corridor barricades, before taking cover behind another, several metres in front of the room he had previously been in. He had put himself between the access stairs to the roof and the data storage room, which he knew would be the Stalkers main target.

Natasha slid into cover beside him, MA5D in hand. She peered over the cover, before looking at Shawn.

"Brute Stalkers, haven't faced one of them in a long time", she said.

"There were quite a few on Reach. Trust me; they can be tricky to take down, especially with that invisibility of theirs. Let's hope those reinforcement Archer told us about arrive soon", he told her. Both of them quickly turned their heads as they heard the sound of a door being kicked down somewhere further down the corridor. Shawn put his Spartan laser onto his back, opting to use his SAW instead. Natasha sighed.

"Shawn, if the reinforcements don't make it in time..."

"They'll make it in time, don't worry", Shawn interrupted, smiling reassuringly at her. She smiled back, before quickly looking back down the corridor as she heard heavy footsteps approaching.

"Well, here they come", Natasha stated the obvious. Shawn smirked, taking the safety off his SAW.

"Let them come, none shall pass anyway. Not while the great and devilishly handsome Shawn and his faithfully sidekick Natasha stand bravely in their way", he said. Natasha chuckled, rolling her eyes.

"You have such a way with words", she sarcastically. He grinned, ignoring her sarcastic tone.

"And that's why the ladies love me", he told her. As the heavy footsteps and distant voices got closer and closer, both Shawn and Natasha raised their weapons, aiming them down the corridor. Shawn smirked as he aimed down his sights.

"Time to see just what this baby can do."

**This chapter was a little bit shorter than usual, but I really wanted to get something out for you guys. The next chapter will be more action packed, so hopefully I'll be able to get more done.**

**Until then though, I hope you enjoyed this chapter, there's more updates to come ;)**


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